Police have arrested Atiar Rahman Dipu, Managing Director of SASCO Tex (BD) Ltd.—listed as a top loan defaulter of Al-Arafah Islami Bank—and his wife, Papiya Rahman, a director of the same company. They were detained late Saturday night around 11:30 p.m. from the DOHS area of Mirpur, Pallabi in Dhaka.
Al-Arafah Islami Bank confirmed the arrests in a press release on Sunday.
Later in the day, the couple was produced before a court, which denied their bail and ordered them to be sent to jail.
According to bank records, SASCO Tex (BD) Ltd. owes nearly Tk 164 crore in written-off default loans to the bank’s Uttara Model Town branch. Out of 10 criminal cases filed against them, they have been sentenced to 8 years in 8 cases (1 year each) and an additional 6 months in 2 cases (3 months each), amounting to 8 years and 6 months of imprisonment. They have also been fined Tk 80 crore in these cases.
After evading their sentences for a long time, Dipu and Papiya were finally arrested on Saturday. Multiple money recovery cases stemming from the bank’s loan default lawsuits are still ongoing.