Sources from the meeting further said that Arastoo Khan also announced the name of Habibullah as company secretary of Islami Bank after looking at another paper handed to him by Saiful Alam.

The meeting continued until evening. That very night, documents appointing the new chairman, vice chairman, and managing director were prepared. Around midnight, those papers were taken to the Governor House—the residence of the then Bangladesh Bank governor Fazle Kabir.

Approval from Bangladesh Bank is required for appointments to the positions of chairman and managing director of a bank.

Two Islami Bank sources said Fazle Kabir came downstairs from the upper floor wearing a lungi and received the documents. On the next working day, Sunday morning, the new appointments at Islami Bank were approved.

Despite repeated allegations of scandals and financial mismanagement in the banking sector, former finance secretary Fazle Kabir was retained as governor for two terms. In fact, the law was amended to relax the age limit so that he could continue in office. There has long been discussion that he was able to remain in the position for two terms because of the influence of the S Alam Group.

Several attempts were made to contact Fazle Kabir by mobile phone to seek his comments on the matter, but he did not respond. He has since been made an accused in murder cases linked to the July mass uprising.

However, on 17 August 2024, Fazle Kabir told this reporter over the phone: “I remember that a change in ownership took place during my tenure at Islami Bank. If any irregularities occurred, the chairman, vice chairman, and managing director of that bank would be able to say so.”

Regarding allegations of close ties with S Alam Group officials, Fazle Kabir said at the time: “Since Mr S Alam stayed in Singapore, many of his officials used to come. I never gave anyone any extra advantages.”

Nevertheless, it was during Fazle Kabir’s tenure as governor that the forcible transfer of ownership at Islami Bank and large-scale irregularities took place. He approved those changes.

[In the second part of this two-part report, read about DGFI at the Prothom Alo printing press, the departure of Arastoo Khan, the appointment of loyalists after the takeover of Islami Bank, and the inside story of how SIBL was taken over using the same method.]