Published: 12:33 AM, 18 August 2026
S Alam's SS Power-1 allowed to import on credit until Dec 2027
Bangladesh Bank has allowed S Alam Group's SS Power-1 to import goods entirely on credit.
The Chattogram-based power producer faces allegations of money laundering and looting bank funds. Under the 100 percent margin facility, state-owned Rupali Bank can fully finance its imports.
The coal-fired plant will no longer have to make any upfront payment to open letters of credit (LCs) to import raw materials.
In a circular issued on Sunday, the central bank said the Bank Company Act would not be applied to SS Power-1 Ltd until December 2027, reports bdnews24.com.
After the Awami League government fell in the 2024 mass uprising, Bangladesh Bank took back control of seven commercial banks that had been under S Alam Group's control.
The group's businesses were subsequently battered by a lack of new lending and a string of lawsuits.
Only its power and transport businesses have survived, while its consumer-goods operations have limped along.
SS Power-1 also became a defaulter amid financial strain. The power plant in Banshkhali, Chattogram, is a customer of state-owned Rupali Bank. The bank sought Bangladesh Bank's approval to allow the customer to import goods with a 100 percent margin facility.
Bangladesh Bank approved the request, exempting SS Power-1 from Section 27 Ka (3) of the Bank Company Act.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS:
Section 27 Ka (3) of the Bank Company Act, 1993 (amended in 2023), states:
"No bank-company or financial institution shall provide any loan facility to a defaulting borrower:
"Provided that, if any defaulting person or, as the case may be, institution or company belonging to a group of mutually interested entities under Section 5(gg) is not a wilful defaulter, or if it appears to Bangladesh Bank that there are reasonable grounds for the failure of the person, institution or company to repay the loan, another institution or company of the same group shall not be deemed a defaulter merely because that person, institution or company is in default:
"And such institution or company may be provided with loan facilities in accordance with Bangladesh Bank's instructions, subject to its prior approval."
