BB now identifies 88 loan defaulters among 2,447 polls aspirants

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FE Report
The number of loan defaulters among 2,447 candidates, who intend to contest the parliamentary polls scheduled for December 29, finally rose to 88 Wednesday from 79 of the previous day.
"We've already sent the names of identified loan defaulters to the returning officers concerned across the country as per their prescribed forms," Bangladesh Bank (BB) Executive Director Khandakar Muzharul Haque told reporters Wednesday.
The central bank has finalised the list on the basis of data of its Credit Information Bureau (CIB). The data also was sent to the Election Commission (EC) on the day for taking the necessary measures, officials said.
The identified defaulters include some senior political leaders from major political parties including Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Awami League and Jatiya Party.
Under the existing provisions, if anyone has a minimum outstanding loan of Tk 50,000, he is a candidate for inclusion in the CIB report.
On the other hand, the commercial banks will also have to inform the election officials concerned of a default loan below Tk 50,000 against any polls aspirant, the officials said.
The BB has already instructed the banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) to ensure presence of their executives in case of any hearing on the loan default cases.
Besides, the central bank will continue its revision of the default loan positions of the aspirants on the basis of receiving information from the commercial banks until today (Thursday), the BB executive added.
During the scrutiny of nomination papers, which concludes today, the returning officers will look into eligibility of the candidates in the context of default loans.
Meanwhile, four more borrowers obtained stay orders on the day from the High Court about their default loans.
A total of 42 borrowers including some businessmen and influential political leaders have recently filed writ petitions with the High Court for dropping their names from the default loan list of the CIB of the central bank.
Earlier, 270 others also filed writ petitions for the same purpose, according to the BB officials.
"We've already asked the commercial banks and NBFIs to gear up their legal actions including applying for vacating the writ petitions filed by the loan defaulters with the High Court," Mr. Haque said.