Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has removed the head of its human resource division amid a tug-of-war between the ‘old guard’ belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami and newly-appointed executives over control of the largest bank of the country.
The removed executive, Md Mahboob Alam, is also an executive vice president of the bank.
The bank’s board of directors took the decision to remove him from the division on Saturday.
The heads of public relations division and corporate social responsibility division will also be removed as per the board’s decision, two of the directors confirmed bdnews24.com.
They said Mahboob was given charge of another department and the same would happen to the two others.
The new leadership of the bank are fighting for control of the bank with Jamaat supporters after taking charge five months ago.
In Saturday’s meeting, the board also decided to give Tk 4.5 billion Zakat money to the prime minister’s Zakat fund, instead of distributing the money directly itself.
It will distribute Tk 130 million of Iftar fund among the people through the social welfare ministry.
Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez
Vice-Chairman Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam Parvez, who said he was threatened and asked to step down, joined the meeting under tight security.
He told bdnews24.com that intelligence agencies, police and RAB personnel provided him security.
The directors expressed ‘intense’ ire over the threat in the meeting, he said and added they urged the related government agencies to take action over the matter.
“There is a conspiracy to bring back anti-liberation Jamaat supporters in control of the bank. I am facing various threats after trying to stop them,” Parvez told bdnews24.com.
“But I am not afraid. I won’t give up. The anti-liberation Jamaat people will be driven out of the bank,” he added.
Parvez, a former teacher at Chittagong University, said Mahboob was removed from the human resource division because he was appointing Jamaat loyalists to top posts of the bank.
He alleged the heads of public relations and CSR departments were spending most of the money to pro-Jamaat organisations and media outlets.
“That’s why there should be changes to these posts,” Parvez said.
Qazi Shahidul Alam
Another director, Professor Dr Qazi Shahidul Alam, said the threats Parvez was facing aimed to bring “Razakars Humayun Bokhteyar and Professor Borhan” to the board of directors.
He said both Humayun and Borhan are from Jamaat. Humayun is a vice-chairman of Islami Bank Foundation.
Shahidul also said the Jamaat supporters were conspiring in various ways because they plan to take back control of the bank after changes through the next election.
Asked about speculations that some industrial groups were trying to buy majority shares of the bank, Shahidul said: “The rich always want to buy many things. They may be willing to purchase in this case.”
Parvez said this was a propaganda and part of the ‘conspiracy’.
Islami Bank, accused of having links with Jamaat leaders, went through a major shake-up in its top brass in January.
Former secretary Arastoo Khan was made the chairman of the bank, while Parvez was reassigned as its vice-chairman after the bank ousted the old guard and recast the board of governors.
Source: bdnews24
