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Published : 16 May 2026, 08:04 PM
Representatives from 26 export-oriented businesses have alleged that officials of Premier Bank, not the traders, were behind a multi-billion taka embezzlement scandal at the bank's Narayanganj branch.
They made the claim at a press briefing in Dhaka on Saturday, where representatives of the firms named in the alleged irregularities spoke out.
They claimed corrupt bankers opened "fake accounts" using the names of their companies to conduct unauthorised transactions.
They asserted that officials from both the Narayanganj branch and the bank's headquarters were “directly involved” in the fraud.
The traders demanded a “special and neutral” investigation into the bank’s Narayanganj office to identify the actual perpetrators, while also seeking the complete transaction statements of the accounts opened under their company names.
The briefings follow recent media reports exposing the laundering of billions of taka through back-to-back Letter of Credits (LCs) against "fake export orders" at Premier Bank's Narayanganj branch.
The irregularities were reportedly uncovered during an internal probe by Bangladesh Bank.
Following the investigation, the bank accounts of the 26 implicated export-oriented companies were frozen.
Denying any involvement in the scam, Arifur Rahman, managing director of Deutsche Land Apparels Limited, read out a written statement at the briefing, noting that the freezing of their accounts has forced their factories to shut down.
"The allegations brought against our 26 companies -- in direct and indirect collusion with certain responsible directors and corrupt officials at Premier Bank's head office -- are not only motivated, false, and baseless, but also a calculated move," he said.
"It has been cleverly orchestrated to pass the blame onto our institutions, harass us, inflict financial damage, and ruin our reputation just to cover up their own corruption," he added.
