Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The government has suspended the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of four state-owned banks as capital adequacy and overall provisioning of the banks have come under pressure following spending of large amount of funds for the purpose.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) issued the order on Thursday and asked the chief executive officers and managing directors of Janata Bank Ltd, Agrani Bank Ltd, Rupali Bank Ltd and Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd to suspend their CSR activities.
“It came to our notice that the boards of directors of some state-owned banks have been spending a significant amount of money in the name of CSR activities. It is casting a negative impact on capital adequacy and overall provisioning of the banks,” the directive said asking for suspension of spending money on CSR activities.
In another directive, the MoF also asked the Janata Bank Ltd to put on hold the amount of money allocated in the name of CSR in a board meeting held on August 25 last.
“We came to know that the board meeting on August 25 allocated a large amount of money for CSR activities. Please hold up the decision and send detailed information to this ministry regarding the money allocation process,” the order noted.
Many directors of the banks try to be ‘famous’ in their own localities by spending money from CSR funds, a senior official of the MoF said. “Some of them are doing so with political vision which is clearly misuse of public money. None is permitted to spend public money for personal gain.”
BBN/SSR/AD-29Aug14-2:37 pm (BST)
