MD, 4 others of Imam Group get jail term over Tk187cr defaulted loan

The Chattogram money loan court sentenced five people, including Imam Group Managing Director (MD) Mohammad Ali, to five months in prison to collect Tk187 crore they had taken from National Bank in loans.

Chattogram Artha Rin Adalat Judge Mujahidur Rahman passed the order on Sunday.

The other four accused are directors of Imam Group – Ali Imam, son of Mohammad Ali, Monir Ahmed, Ferdowsi Begum and Rizia Khatun, said Md Rezaul Karim, bench assistant of the court. 

In 2014, National Bank filed a case against the owner of Imam Group to recover defaulted loan of Tk187 crore taken from the bank's Agrabad branch.

Relatives of Mohammad Ali and sources at the court said he has been sentenced in several civil and criminal cases. He fled to the United Arab Emirates in 2019 and since then has been staying there.

Various institutions, owned by Muhammad Ali, owe fifteen banks and financial institutions in the country about Tk800 crore, most of which was not repayed, according to documents obtained from different banks.

Sixty cases have been filed against the group over non-payment of the defaulted loans and cheque dishonour. Out of this, there are arrest warrants in 55 cases.

Besides, he was sentenced to two years in prison in more than 10 cheque dishonour cases. He took most of the loans between 2000 and 2005. 

In the 1990s, Muhammad Ali was known as "Blacker Muhammad Ali" in Chattogram for illegally importing goods. During this time, Imam Traders used to control much of the consumer goods market in Khatunganj. Before that, he worked as a staff of various shops in the Khatunganj-Teribazar area. 

Later, he started garments and import businesses. He took loans to invest in these sectors but spent most of the amount on land purchase. Since 2010, he started incurring losses in his business and failed to repay loans.