Wilful defaulter of several crores secures upazila chairman candidacy in Ctg

A wilful defaulter, with loans amounting to several crores from Padma Bank, has secured candidacy for the position of chairman in the upcoming upazila elections from Chandanaish, Chattogram, simply by falsely declaring himself a non-defaulter in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission. 

However, when inquired, the Election Commission blamed it on the central bank's Credit Information Bureau (CIB).

The candidate, Jashim Uddin Ahmed, is the chairman of Jessica Group and the managing director of Ramada by Wyndham Cox's Bazar, besides owning other commercial properties in UAE and Chattogram city.

There are three court orders against him: one prohibiting him from leaving the country, second for his arrest, and the third for seizure of assets due to non-repayment of loans.

According to Padma Bank records, Jashim, also owner of Jessica Trade International, obtained a loan of Tk60 crore from Padma Bank's Khatunganj branch in 2016, as working capital for a trading business.

Taken under the Cash Credit-Hypothecation category, the loan was to be repaid within a year after the end of the business. These are also called collateral-based loans as hypothecation is the offering of an asset as collateral, or as backing for a debt.

However, the repayment has not been made even after nearly 8 years.

Although the bank had restructured the loan in 2022 with full interest waiver, Jashim has still not paid the amount as per the conditions. Currently, the outstanding amount stands at Tk88 crore with interest.

In exchange for this loan, the bank holds a commercial property in the Lal Dighi area of Chattogram city as collateral. The seven-storey building, Mahal Market, built on 16.59 decimal of land, was bought by Jashim for a mere Tk6 crore several years ago.

On 28 July, 2020, Padma Bank filed a loan case (case Number-103/2020) against Jashim due to non-repayment of the loan. Later, on 29 January this year, the money loan court gave the verdict in the case where Jashim was asked to repay the loan with interest as he did not repay it even after restructuring. The case is now ongoing as a "Jari case."

On April 30, the court issued an arrest warrant against Jashim Uddin with a civil detention order of 5 months. Prior to this, the same court had issued orders against Jashim on ban on leaving the country and confiscation of his assets.

Meanwhile, despite being a loan defaulter to the bank, Jashim has no problem securing candidacy in the upcoming upazila elections. He even boasted on his Facebook after the nomination paper was validated on 5 May.

In his election affidavit, Jashim mentioned loans of Tk60 crore from Padma Bank's Khatunganj branch and Tk11.63 crore from Sonali Bank's Motijheel branch.

An official from Padma Bank's Khatunganj branch, on condition of anonymity, said, "Jessica Trade International lacks substantial business activity, with no prior records of significant transactions. However, we do not understand how the company secured a loan of Tk60 crore in 2016, despite the mortgaged property's current value is estimated to be not more than Tk20 crores.

"The company owes around Tk90 crore to the bank. Now we have to run to the court every day to collect this debt."

The official said Jashim Uddin received this loan with the connivance of Showkat Osman Chowdhury, the founding manager of the branch.

Showkat Osman could not be reached despite repeated attempts.

Contacted, Chittagong Additional District Election Officer and Returning Officer Shahidul Islam Pramanik said, "People from the administration and financial sectors were present during the nomination process. We declared his candidature valid as he was not shown as a defaulter in the CIB report we received."

This correspondent tried to reach Jashim and his personal assistant to get a statement on the matter. Cell phones of both of them were found switched off.

 'Information concealment'

Senior lawyer Zia Habib Ahsan, who handles such cases at Chattogram Debt Court, said, "The 'Jari case' is ongoing against him [Jashim] after he was sentenced in the loan case. Arrest warrant has been issued against him along with travel bans and seizure of property.

"However, by failing to declare himself as a non-defaulter in affidavits, he committed a crime of information concealment.

"Even if the candidate's Credit Information Bureau (CIB) report was clear according to the election officer in charge, any ongoing default cases should have been brought to light by concerned bank officials or rival candidates during the electoral process," he added.

Rezaul Karim, assistant bench of the money loan court, said that the Finance and Debt Court had also directed Padma Bank's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Tarek Riaz Khan, to provide reasons for submitting an "illegal" application on behalf of a willful defaulter.

Rezaul further said that on 2 May, in accordance with Section 34(6) of the Financial Debt Court Act, the defendant and Padma Bank jointly filed an application for bailment in the case and release of property without paying Tk22 crore, which represents 25% of the owed amount of Tk88 crore.

Election Commission's Additional Secretary Farhad Ahmed Khan said, "Actually the Credit Information Bureau (CIB) report is our only way to know about the bank defaulters. If information of such defaulters does not come in the CIB report, then it is an issue from their end. We have no jurisdiction over it.

"And most important is that the returning officer is the designated person to accept or dismiss candidacy following the process of the law. If there is anyone aggrieved, he or the bank can appeal against the decision. The appeal authority once again looks into it. Then it will make decisions as per their procedure."

Who is this Jashim?

According to election documents, bank information, and sources familiar with the matter, Jashim Uddin Ahmed is the son of Mofizul Ahmed from North Gachbaria village in Chandanaish upazila of Chattogram.

Jashim, who is self-educated initially went to Saudi Arabia, later settled in the Arab Emirates after experiencing limited opportunities there. Later, he invested in real estate, specifically in Cox's Bazar and Dubai, in international chain hotels like Ramada.

He also has a building in the affluent area of Khulshi in Chattogram, named "Jashim Hill."

Despite the court's order mentioning him as the managing director of Hotel Ramada, Cox's Bazar, in the election affidavit, Jashim only mentioned Hotel Ibis Limited, a hotel development company in Bangladesh, and Jessica International Limited in his business documents.