At a press conference held at the Economic Reporters Forum in Dhaka on Saturday, owners of 26 export-oriented garment factories accused Premier Bank’s Narayanganj branch of creating around Tk 10,500 crore in fake loans using forged sales contracts, falsified back-to-back letters of credit, and illegal foreign currency transactions. The owners alleged that former chairman HBM Iqbal and several bank officials misappropriated funds through these irregularities, which were not detected in previous audits or Bangladesh Bank inspections.

The affected business owners said that since 2017, some bank officials used fake IDs to open multiple back-to-back LCs without importing raw materials, later showing the liabilities as loans under the companies’ names. They claimed that forced and demand loans were created without consent, violating Bangladesh Bank’s foreign exchange guidelines. Many factories have since shut down, and the owners demanded an independent forensic audit and intervention from Bangladesh Bank and the finance ministry.

Premier Bank’s current chairman, Arifur Rahman, stated that a forensic audit is underway and nearing completion, after which the actual liabilities and responsible parties will be identified.