An inspection by Bangladesh Bank has revealed extensive irregularities in recruitment at Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited during the tenure of the S Alam Group’s control from 2017 to 2024. The inquiry uncovered that the bank hired thousands of employees without following standard hiring procedures, prompting significant dismissals and ongoing controversy.

According to the report, a total of 8,099 individuals were recruited from the Chittagong district alone, accounting for nearly 75 percent of all new hires in that period. Of these, 5,148 came from Patiya upazila, the hometown of Mohammed Saiful Alam, chairman of the S Alam Group. The investigation found that recruitment largely bypassed public advertising and written or oral examinations, with candidates submitted through CV collection boxes located at the chairman’s residence and company offices.

This approach contravened established service regulations requiring announcements of vacancies in national newspapers and formal assessment processes to ensure merit-based hiring. The absence of transparent recruitment severely limited opportunities for candidates from other parts of the country, raising concerns about geographic and institutional bias.

Following a landmark competency evaluation conducted in September 2025, more than 5,000 bank officials who had questionable recruitment backgrounds were dismissed. This evaluation targeted 5,385 staff members identified as having potentially been appointed without valid examinations or with falsified certificates after the S Alam Group took control of the bank in 2017. Many of these appointments were linked directly to the group’s influence, which ended in August 2024 with the fall of the Awami League government. Subsequently, Bangladesh Bank dissolved Islami Bank’s board, which had strong ties to the conglomerate.

The new management’s audit identified that over 10,000 of the bank’s 21,000 employees were hired following the 2017 takeover, underscoring the scale of irregular recruitment practices. The probe also highlighted concerns about discriminatory treatment during staff assessments, including selective dismissals tied to the competency test.

Bank officials terminated for not fulfilling appointment formalities have protested their removal, demanding reinstatement and accountability from the former S Alam leadership. While Bangladesh Bank signaled that it will pursue further action if fraud and misconduct are substantiated, current Islami Bank management maintains that dismissals were carried out solely because of failures to complete mandatory employment procedures.

The revelations have cast a spotlight on governance and regulatory oversight challenges within one of Bangladesh’s leading financial institutions. Authorities are expected to continue scrutinizing the matter amid calls for greater transparency and reform in recruitment and human resource management.