Rupali seeks 'urgent' appointment of 900 officers to resume normal work

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Shakhawat Hossain
Rupali Bank Wednesday urged the finance ministry to give approval to appointment of 900 officers on emergency basis as part of its plan to revive its financial fortune, officials said.
"Without filling up at least half of the vacant posts, it will be difficult for the bank to resume its normal operation," the Bank said in a letter to the finance ministry.
The urgent plea came just a couple of days after the government scrapped sale process of the state-controlled Bank to a Saudi Prince. The government owns over 93 per cent of the bank while the rest was offloaded to public.
The 'mysterious' Prince of the Saudi Royal family beat five other local and international bidders to clinch the purchase of over the government stake of Rupali for a whopping 458 million dollars in August 2006.
But since then he dragged his feet and could not come up with proper explanation and date on how and when it would complete the acquisition.
His inability to takeover has ruined Rupali's financial health, as fresh loan was halted for nearly three years, recruitment suspended and consultants devoured about five millions dollars as fees.
According to the letter, some 1575 posts are lying vacant in the Bank, whose day-to-day operation mostly remained frozen during the three-year-long abortive sale process.
"Some 100 bank officials have died during these years as manpower crisis deepened," said the letter.
Of the vacant posts, 725 are senior and 850 junior officers. The bank wants immediate appointment of 300 senior and 600 junior officers to ease the manpower crisis and resume normal banking operation, added the latter.
"Some of our branches have become so undermanned that only security guards and branch managers are keeping the office open," said a top official of the bank.
The top official said the bank would be able to resume its operation by next week, if the government approves the emergency recruitment.
Finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam Wednesday said the government will reactivate the state-run Rupali Bank operations before taking any policy decision on the bank's future.
He admitted that all the recruitment process and lending operation of the bank remained stalled while other normal banking operations were hampered due to the failed privatisation move.