Premier Bank accuses Sayeed Khokon of loan default Khokon accuses bank chairman of smear campaign.

Private commercial bank Premier Bank alleged aspirant candidate to Dhaka South city, Sayeed Khokon, is a loan defaulter.The bank sent a complaint to the Election Commission in this regard.The EC is yet to take the allegation into cognizance as Khokon did not collect nomination form for the polls till now.
Khokon, meanwhile, alleged the banks’s chairman, former AL lawmaker HBM Iqbal, had raises the allegation to distort his image.The election is scheduled to be held on April 28.

A letter signed by the bank managing director Khondokar Fazle Rashid said the bank gave loan to S and S Corporation of Sayeed Khokon and DD Corporation of Khokon’s mother, since 2003, in installments.At present the loan amount is Tk 103 crore 68 lakh. Another Tk 14 crore 77 lakh loan was provided as bank security or guarantee. The total amount thus stood at Tk 118 crore 45 lakh.‘As they did not pay the loan on time, they have become defaulters,’ the letter claimed.
Sayeed Khokon, the son of former the then Dhaka City mayor Mohammad Hanif, denied the allegation.Khokon told New Age the bank, especially the bank chairman, had done this to destroy ‘my political image just before the election.’

He said ‘I have loans from Premier bank and many other banks. There is a dispute between the bank and me regarding the interest rate. The High Court issued a stay order in this regard.’I have applied for rescheduling of the loan, but just seven days before the rescheduling, the bank sent the letter to the EC, claimed Khokon.
Khokon has already started campaigning to contest for the mayoral post of Dhaka South City.According to the Local Government City Corporation Act 2009, any one will be unfit for mayor and councilor if he owns a company or is shareholder of a company which has failed to pay a loan or installment on a loan, to any bank or financial corporation.The election commissioner Abdul Mobarak told New Age Khokon did not collect nomination form s so ‘EC cannot do anything.’
He said ‘when aspirant candidates submit nomination paper, Bangladesh Bank send their financial status to the EC.’

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.com