Kuwaitis Want To Offload Islami Bank Shares
Three Kuwaiti institutions want to sell off their stakes in the Jamaat-e-Islami-sponsored Islami Bank, which has been under huge international pressure for its alleged funding of militant activities.
The development took place at a time when Shahbagh’s Ganajagaran Mancha was urging the people to boycott the bank for ‘patronising war criminals and their organisations’.
The Shahbagh movement is seeking capital punishment for war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Public Institute of Social Security, Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation and Kuwait Finance House, sponsor shareholders in the bank, together hold 15 percent stakes.
Recently, their representatives wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the procedure to offload stocks.
The ministry, in turn, wrote to the share market regulator Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
The SEC said there was no bar to selling off those shares if proper procedures were followed.
A copy of the letter is available with bdnews24.com.
The three organisations of the Gulf state jointly hold 200,433,225 shares of the 30-year old bank valued at more than Tk 8.61 billion.
The bank’s website says its foreign shareholders currently hold 58 percent shares.
SEC Executive Director Anowarul Islam wrote, “In this connection we would like to inform you (the ministry) that aforesaid owners can sell their shares through the stock exchanges complying with the commission’s notifications.”
”Therefore the seller may be advised to contact the stock exchanges for the next course of action.”
Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges were also copied in the Feb 28 letter sent to the ministry by the SEC. The Kuwati institutions, however, did not announce until Sunday that they were selling their stakes.
As per law, if any sponsor shareholder of the stock market wants to sell its shares, it has to announce it at least a month before.
Islami Bank, however, denied any knowledge about the letter of the Kuwati firms.
“We don’t know anything as such,” Ataur Rahman, spokesman for the bank, told bdnews24.com on Sunday.
“If any director wants to sell shares, it has to be approved the meeting of the bank’s board of directors.”
“We’ve found nothing like this,” he added.
Earlier, the bank sought assistance from the Bangladesh Bank after it plunged into a massive crisis in the wake of calls by activists of the Shahbagh movement to severe relations with any institution having links with war criminals.
The call by the activists drew huge response with individuals closing their accounts with the bank, internationals banks refusing to do business with it and readymade garment buyers reluctant to trade through the bank.
The bank is under government watch for its suspected militant funding.
The central bank appointed a monitor on 2010 to check its transactions.
The Shahbagh movement is seeking capital punishment for war criminals and a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami.
The Public Institute of Social Security, Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation and Kuwait Finance House, sponsor shareholders in the bank, together hold 15 percent stakes.
Recently, their representatives wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the procedure to offload stocks.
The ministry, in turn, wrote to the share market regulator Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
The SEC said there was no bar to selling off those shares if proper procedures were followed.
A copy of the letter is available with bdnews24.com.
The three organisations of the Gulf state jointly hold 200,433,225 shares of the 30-year old bank valued at more than Tk 8.61 billion.
The bank’s website says its foreign shareholders currently hold 58 percent shares.
SEC Executive Director Anowarul Islam wrote, “In this connection we would like to inform you (the ministry) that aforesaid owners can sell their shares through the stock exchanges complying with the commission’s notifications.”
”Therefore the seller may be advised to contact the stock exchanges for the next course of action.”
Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges were also copied in the Feb 28 letter sent to the ministry by the SEC. The Kuwati institutions, however, did not announce until Sunday that they were selling their stakes.
As per law, if any sponsor shareholder of the stock market wants to sell its shares, it has to announce it at least a month before.
Islami Bank, however, denied any knowledge about the letter of the Kuwati firms.
“We don’t know anything as such,” Ataur Rahman, spokesman for the bank, told bdnews24.com on Sunday.
“If any director wants to sell shares, it has to be approved the meeting of the bank’s board of directors.”
“We’ve found nothing like this,” he added.
Earlier, the bank sought assistance from the Bangladesh Bank after it plunged into a massive crisis in the wake of calls by activists of the Shahbagh movement to severe relations with any institution having links with war criminals.
The call by the activists drew huge response with individuals closing their accounts with the bank, internationals banks refusing to do business with it and readymade garment buyers reluctant to trade through the bank.
The bank is under government watch for its suspected militant funding.
The central bank appointed a monitor on 2010 to check its transactions.
Courtesy: BDNews24.com
