The interim government has decided to sell the pledged shares of Beximco Pharmaceuticals and Shinepukur Ceramics connected to Salman F Rahman and his associates.
Adviser for labour and employment M Sakhawat Hossain on Tuesday in a press briefing said that the government decided to sell the shares to clear unpaid salaries of the workers of Beximco鈥檚 16 factories.
The government has asked the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Institutions Division and the Bangladesh Bank to make plans regarding this within next month.
The advisory council committee on Beximco Industrial Park, formed to review the labour and business situation of the industrial establishments of the park, took this decision on the day in a meeting to pay the arrears of workers by next February as per the labour act.
The adviser said, 鈥楢bout Tk聽500-600 crore will be needed to clear the arrears and other dues of the employees.鈥�
He said that 16 factories of Beximco鈥檚 Textile and Apparel division took a loan of Tk聽28,544.14 crore from different banks.
鈥楾here will be an investigation into how these loans were given. If there are any irregularities, no one involved will be spared,鈥� the adviser said, adding that the investigation would also be completed by February.
鈥楾his loan scandal by Beximco Limited has surpassed even the scandal of the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 one billion dollar reserve heist,鈥� he said.
He also warned that action will also be taken against the 鈥榬eceiver appointed in Beximco Limited as the official did not implement the decisions taken by this Advisory Council鈥� or did not treat them with importance.
Sakhawat also announced that the advisory council committee on the Beximco Industrial Park will not hold any more meetings on this matter.
According to an official of the BSEC, the government might sell the shares outside of the stock exchanges to avoid massive share price fall.
According to the Dhaka Stock Exchange Website, sponsors and directors hold 30.13 per cent shares of Beximco Pharmaceuticals, and 50 per cent shares of Shinepukur Ceramics.
The closing price of Beximco Pharmaceuticals shares on Tuesday at the DSE was Tk 76.6 each, and the closing price of Shinepukur Ceramics was Tk 12 each.
The companies have 446,112,089 outstanding shares and 146,966,055 outstanding shares respectively.
Earlier on January 23, the labour adviser said that the government paid Tk聽163.43 crore as the workers鈥� salaries till December, and that plans were in place to pay January鈥檚 salaries as per the committee鈥檚 decision.
To manage the crisis, Tk 50 crore in interest-free loans has been provided by the finance department, along with Tk 10 crore from the government鈥檚 central fund.
Workers of Beximco Industrial Park gathered on January 21 at the Sreepur Mayanagar ground in Gazipur to demand the withdrawal of layoffs and the reopening of factories.
They announced a shutdown programme, including blocking the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, if their demands were not met by January 22.
However, the adviser criticised their actions, stating that the workers resorted to arson, and hinted that someone might be inciting the workers, saying, 鈥業f someone is behind this, it will be revealed soon.鈥�
