Sikder Group abducted the managing director of Exim Bank, Mohammad Haider Ali Miah, and additional MD, Mohammad Firoz Hossain, took them to their house in Banani and tortured them for not giving them a loan in time. The Sikder Group MD, Ron Haque Sikder, even shot at the Exim Bank MD Haider Ali Miah, the vice chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB). And the chairman of Exim Bank, Nazrul Islam Majumdar, is the chairman of the bank owners’ apex body, Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB). The Exim Bank authorities have filed a case in this regard with the Gulshan police station.

In an interview with Prothom Alo, former deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, Khandaker Ibrahim Khaled, expressed his deep shock about the incident.

“When I heard about the matter, the first question that popped into my head was whether we were ruled by law, or by a number of wealthy ‘groups’,” Khandaker Ibrahim Khaled said, voicing his initial reaction to the incident.

He said that it was no secret that bankers were always working under pressure. Then again, some were said to take bribes. But now it is obvious just how tremendous the pressure is in reality. “An MD was shot at, tortured. That is something so serious. Shooting an MD is unthinkable. Yet this was done by a group close to the government, a group that owns a bank. They are very powerful, unethical and powerful.”