Arrest warrant issued against Saad Musa Group MD, wife over loan default

A court has issued an arrest warrant against Mohammad Mohsin, managing director of the Chattogram-based Saad Musa Group, and his wife, Shamima Nargis Chowdhury. 

Judge Mujahidur Rahman of the Chattogram Artha Rin Adalat (financial loan court) issued the order in response to a case filed by Uttara Bank regarding outstanding dues of Tk105 crore, court officials told TBS.

According to case documents, Uttara Bank filed a case against Saad Musa Fabrics, a subsidiary of Saad Musa Group, to recover outstanding dues of over Tk72 crore in 2020. In 2010, Saad Musa Fabrics took the loan from the Lal Dighi branch of Uttara Bank as working capital.

Mohsin is the managing director and his wife is a director of Saad Musa Fabrics. 

On 10 November 2022, the court issued its verdict on the case, ordering the loan to be repaid within 60 days with a 12% interest rate accrued during the trial. However, as the loan was not repaid within the stipulated time, on 8 November 2023, the bank filed an execution case against the heads of the company for an amount of Tk105.15 crore.

During the execution case proceedings, the heads of the company requested multiple extensions to repay the dues but ultimately failed to make the payments. Consequently, the court issued a civil detention order of five months against them.

According to information from the court and creditor banks, Saad Musa Group has outstanding loans totalling at least Tk3,500 crore with various banks. Of these, Tk300 crore with Mutual Trust Bank, Tk120 crore with Pubali Bank, Tk100 crore with Agrani Bank, Tk400 crore with Standard Bank, and Tk500 crore with National Bank.

Mohsin entered the business in 1982 and established several export-oriented garment enterprises. In the garment sector, he launched factories in knitting, fabrics, spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing, and finishing, building numerous facilities. Starting with just 20 workers, the company's workforce grew to 20,000 by 2015.