Court appoints 5 independent directors for ILFSL

The High Court has appointed five independent directors at the International Leasing and Finance Services Limited (ILFSL) in a bid to revive the company, replacing the ones accused in a case filed over embezzlement of Tk2,500 crore.

The newly appointed directors are – former CEO of Agrani Bank, Prime Bank and South East Bank Syed Abu Naser Bakhtiyar, Senior District and Sessions judge (retd) and ex-director of former Anti-Corruption Commission Shafiqul Islam, Brig Gen (retd) Mitful Karim, Barrister Ashraf Ali, and Enamul Hasan.

The previous directors, excluding the court-appointed chairman of ILFSL NI Khan, are accused in the embezzlement case.

Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar gave the appointment order, and it was published in the Supreme Court's website on Tuesday.

The High Court also directed ILFSL to submit the names of their newly appointed directors to the Bangladesh Bank, and pay them Tk25,000 each as an honorarium for attending every board meeting.

Lawyer Mahfuzur Rahman Milon represented the company in court, while Khurshid Alam Khan stood in favour of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Khurshid Alam Khan told the media, "The ACC did not find any criminal charges against these five people after the court asked the commission to find out whether there are any cases or arrest warrants against them.

"The court, therefore, appointed them as independent directors to run the company. Its previous directors are fugitives in the eyes of the law until they attain bail from the court."

Meanwhile, lawyer Mahfuzur Rahman Milon said, "The newly appointed directors will work towards collecting the defaulted Loan for the ILFSL. They will also make an effort to improve the overall health of the non-banking financial institution."

The High Court had ordered the revival of ILFSL on 16 June this year.

On 21 January, the High Court had ordered authorities concerned to confiscate all assets and bank accounts of 18 directors of the capital market-listed company ILFSL. The court also ordered the seizure of their passports too.

According to ACC sources, ILFSL's former managing director Rashedul Haque served as the main cohort of Prasanta Kumar (PK) Halder – who embezzled more than Tk3,500 crore from different financial institutions – in embezzling money from the company.