Bangladesh Bank’s Khasru Parvez appointed as new Beximco receiver

As many as 16 of the 32 registered factories of Beximco Industrial Park did not exist, says an advisory committee

Khasru Parvez, executive director of Bangladesh Bank, has been appointed as the custodian - officially called the receiver - to oversee the properties and assets of all Beximco Group companies aside from Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Parvez was appointed to the role on Tuesday, said central bank spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan.

“Khasru Parvez was appointed as the Beximco Group receiver as scheduled,” he said.

Ruhul Amin, another central bank executive director, was given the responsibility on Nov 10 as per a High Court order.

Salman F Rahman, the private industries and investment advisor to deposed former premier Sheikh Hasina, is the vice chairman of Beximco Group.

Since the fall of the government, workers in Beximco Group's industrial enterprises have been protesting in phases for unpaid wages. Following the central bank’s approval of a special loan in this situation, the payment of arrears was reported in the media.

Then, on Sept 5, the High Court issued a rule hearing a writ petition on installing a caretaker in Beximco Group and asked why an initiative would not be taken to this end.

Two months later, Bangladesh Bank appointed its Executive Director Ruhul Amin as the receiver.

There were layoffs at 16 factories of the Beximco Industrial Park amid labour unrest.

Beximco has been unable to operate at full capacity due to a lack of necessary raw materials, bank loans and accounts being blocked and unavailability of facilities like letter of credit.

An advisory committee formed for the Beximo Industrial Park said 16 of the 32 registered factories were not operating at the park, but Tk 120 billion was borrowed by them.

Overall, a total of Tk 299.25 billion was borrowed from different banks and financial institutions for these factories.

With production limited, Beximco has suffered losses over the past six months, officially amounting to Tk 356.5 million in the July-December period.

According to Beximco, no banks have opened letters of credit for Beximco since August last year.

A probe committee formed by the government said Beximco was Tk 400 billion in debt, which has begun defaulting through non-payment.