The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) and other commercial banks seen to be unable to block the participation of the loan defaulters in the coming parliamentary election as many of them managed to get nomination at the last moment to contest the polls with stay orders from the high court court.

Even four candidates, who defaulted in paying loan, have received stay orders from courts yesterday.

Meanwhile, Finance and Planning Adviser Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam has advised the Bangladesh Bank and other banks to take measures to prevent loan defaulters from contesting the general elections. A total of 270 banks loan-defaulters have so far received stay orders from the courts. Of them, 42 were nomination seekers and all of them got stay orders from the higher courts in the last week alone, the BB Executive Director Khandaker Mazharul Haq said.

The BB has traced 12 more candidates as loan-defaulters yesterday who have submitted their nomination papers to the Election Commission for participating in the national elections slated for December 29.With this, the total number of loan defaulters who got nomination now stands at 88 as per the list of BB.

The total number of loan defaulters, who got nomination for contesting the December 29 elections, might exceed 150, according to sources. The BB is yet to ensure the total number of loan defaulters in the election fray.

The BB is taking preparations to fight legal battle against the loan-defaulters who are in the election race with stay orders from the higher court. The BB has already appointed lawyers to fight the battle against the defaulters, he added.

In the meantime, the names of a good number of candidates, who have initially been identified as loan defaulters in the list sent to the election commission, have been dropped from the list because of weakness in the credit information bureau of the nationalised banks.

Sadek Hossain of Dhaka-6 constituency and Sirajuddin of Dhaka-15 constituency are among the candidates whose names have been dropped from the list of loan defaulters yesterday for the same reason.

The Finance Adviser yesterday said we should see to it that the loan defaulters couldn't contest the polls taking advantage of the loopholes in the law. They must be barred from contesting the polls for the sake of fair and credible elections, he stressed.

The identified loan defaulter candidates belonging to Awami League include Maj Gen (retd) Abdus Salam (Mymensingh-9), Motahar Hossain (Lalmonirhat-1), Nuruzzaman Ahmed (Lalmonirhat-2), Md Mizanur Rahman (Khulna-2), Shamsul Haque Chowdhury (Chittagong-11), Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury (Feni-2), Mohammad Ali (Noakhali-6) and Moshtaque Ahmed Chowdhury (Cox's Bazar-3).

The 12 BNP candidates identified as loan defaulters are Abu Bakar Siddiqur Rahman (Mymensingh-10), Abdus Sobhan (Barisal-1), Shamsuzzoha Khan (Naogaon-2), Rumana Mahmud (Sirajganj-2), Golam Mawla Khan Babul (Sirajganj-5), Biswas Jahangir Alam (Narail-1), Nurun Nahar Parul (Rajshahi-5), Giasuddin Quader Chowdhury (Chittagong-5), Mostafa Kamal Pasha (Chittagong-16), Kazi Md Mofizur Rahman (Noakhali-2), Md Giasuddin (Narayanganj-4) and Mostafa Ali (Bogra-4).

Other prominent loan defaulters who filed nomination include Shahidul Haque Jamal, a BNP rebel, who has submitted nomination papers from several constituencies in Barisal as an independent candidate, Jatiya Party's Mostofa Jamal Haider (Perojpur-1), Joynal Abedin Sarker (independent candidate from Lalmonirhat-1), and Awami League's rebel candidate Zafar Ahmed Chowdhury (Chittagong-14).

The candidates who have already filed writ petition to the High Court to drop their names from the list of loan defaulters include BNP's Barkatullah Bulu, Shafi Ahmed Chowdhury, Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad and Maj (retd) Manzur Quader, Redwan Ahmed, Shafiqul Goni Swapan and Awami League leader ABM Abul Quashem.

The candidates who have secured stay orders from the High Court include Goyeshar Chandra Roy (Dhaka-3), Akmal Yusuf (Faridpur-3), Kaiser Hamid (Dhaka-14), Abdul Latif Siddique (Tangail-4).