More Hall-Mark bills to be paid back with Sonali Bank money

Bangladesh Bank has decided to pay from Sonali Bank’s account another 1,579 inland bills of exchange of a number of organisations including Hall-Mark group.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 31 July 2015, 04:41 PM
Updated : 31 July 2015, 04:41 PM

The state-owned bank’s Hotel Ruposhi Bangla Branch had endorsed the bills making them liable for the measure. 
 
A recent letter from central bank’s Foreign Exchange Policy Department asked Sonali Bank to keep adequate funds in the foreign currency clearing account. 

FEPD Executive Director Md Ahsan Ullah told bdnews24.com: “We initially decided to clear 586 bills, but later decided to clear all bills endorsed by Sonali Bank which do not have pending legal suits.”

The branch had endorsed 2,332 inland bills of a number of business groups including Hall-Mark Group who used it to draw Tk 13.16 billion from 41 banks. 

Of them, the central bank found no irregularities in 586 bills last year and decided in December to take the money out of the bank’s foreign currency clearing account. 

Of them, Bangladesh Bank paid back $44.76 million against 158 bills and Sonali bank paid back 222. 
 
The rest would be cleared by the central bank. Other than these, the central bank had to pay back $106.84 billion against another 136 bills.