The High Court has reconstituted the board of directors of the People's Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (PLFSL), a troubled non-bank financial institution, to run it "effectively for the greater interest of depositors and stakeholders". 

Releasing the full text of the order recently, the bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar rebuilt the six-member board.

Specifically, Kazi Anowarul Hoque, a former additional secretary to the government, and Supreme Court lawyer Reshad Imam has replaced members Mohammad Mainuddin Hassan Chowdhury and Anwarul Islam Sikder.

The bench had passed an order on this issue on May 16 following an application filed by the PLFSL seeking reconstitution of its board of directors, which was appointed by the court in July 2021.

During hearing of the application, the company's lawyer Mejbahur Rahman informed that Mohammad Mainuddin Hassan Chowdhury submitted his resignation to its chairman on May 5 this year showing personal reasons.

Besides, Anwarul Islam Sikder has failed to attend board meetings due to his ailing health, for which the quorum was not being met and the board was facing a lot of difficulties in taking decisions, he said.

In the full text of order, the HC bench said, "It appears to this court that for the greater interest of the depositors and other stakeholders, the present board of directors of the PLFSL should be reconstituted for the purpose of effectively running the company".

According to the HC order, Hasan Shaheed Ferdous, a retired senior district and sessions judge, was to be the chairman of the PLFSL.

Its board members would be Kazi Anowarul Hoque, Brig Gen (retired) Kazi Taufiqul Islam, Reshad Imam, Mohammad Azizul Islam Rana, FCA, and Md Atiqur Rahman, representative of the depositors of the company.

PLFSL's lawyer Mejbahur Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday that the PLFSL, which was very much an ailing nonbanking company, would gain momentum in its activities following the board's reconstitution.

The PLFSL, which commenced its operations in 1996, has reportedly faced a wide range of financial scams from 2004, which forced the central bank to appoint an observer in 2015.

In addition, the central bank removed five directors of the NBFI in 2015 for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of Tk 358 crore.

Despite that, the central bank failed to restore corporate governance in the PLFSL. In the meantime, the financial health of the NBFI continued to worsen.

The liquidation process began after the board of the PLFSL informed the BB in April 2019 about its inability to pay back depositors' money in spite of their deposits reaching maturity.

In continuation of legal procedures, the same HC bench in July 2021 threw a lifeline to the PLFSL through constituting its board of directs, thus saving it from potential liquidation and also issued several directives on the board, borrowers, and the Anti-Corruption Commission to smoothly run the company.