Special Correspondent
The government has decided to sell the pledged shares of two Beximco Group entities to clear the unpaid wages of workers in 16 factories of the conglomerate.
Stock market regulator, the Bangladesh Security Exchange Commission (BSEC) and the Financial Institutions Division (FID) will take the initiative to sell off the pledged shares of Beximco Pharmaceuticals and Shinepukur Ceramics within the next month.
Labour and Employment Adviser Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain disclosed the information at a press briefing on Tuesday after a meeting of the advisory council committee on Beximco Industrial Park at the conference room of the shipping ministry at the Bangladesh Secretariat.
The adviser said, "Some Tk500-600 crore will be needed to clear the salaries and other dues of the employees. That money will be arranged by selling these shares." "An investigation will be conducted into how 16 factories in Beximco's textile and apparel sector took loans of Tk28,544 crore from different banks," he added.
He also said this investigation will also be completed by February. "Beximco Limited's loan scandal has surpassed the scandal of the Bangladesh Bank reserves heist," he added.
In the last week, the laid-off workers and employees of 16 Beximco textile and garment units Thursday urged the government to reopen the factories and reinstate their jobs.
They made the demand at a press conference at the Capital Market Journalists' Forum (CMJF) office in Dhaka.
The employees demanded that the government facilitate the opening of letters of credit so that the mills can import raw materials, operate the factories, and repay bank loans.
"The owners of the group are eager to resume operations of the 16 textile and garment factories," said Md Abdul Kaium, head of personnel administration at Beximco Garment Division, at the press conference.
Meanwhile, after the press conference, on Thursday, Labour Adviser M Sakhawat Hussain said at a press conference at the secretariat in Dhaka that the reopening of 16 textile and garment factories of Beximco Group is not possible now, as the group has a high amount of default loans.