Several officers and employees of Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC have been accused of directly participating in the ongoing protests under the banner of "general customers" against a decision made by Bangladesh Bank.

There are allegations that despite not being general bank customers, these employees are organizing and conducting the protests under the banner of the "Conscious Customer Forum" (Sachetan Grahak Forum) or "Islami Bank Customer Forum."  Some of them are taking part in the protests openly, while others are extending support to the protesters secretly. Through these, they are violating the Service Rules, Human Resources Guidelines and Professional Behaviours. In its latest circular, Islami Bank directed its officials and employees to maintain the highest professional behaviours at the working places. Otherwise, they were cautioned of bringing under the purview of appropriate punishment.

While talking to several officials of the Islami Bank, they said many of the bank officials have also joined the protests along with the "Conscious Customer Forum" (Sachetan Grahak Forum). Some of them also extending support to the protesters secretly, while others have appeared openly. Some videos have also been found in social media.

Those who have joined the protests openly include bank officers Abul Azad, Mohammad Akram Hossain, CBA leader Anisur Rahman and dozens others. A photograph shows "Khurshid has no room in the Islami Bank premises." With such a festoon, Chak Mogoltuli Branch's senior principal officer Abul Azad joined with protesters on the street.

On condition of anonimity, several bank officials and employees told Khaborer Kagoj that the locking incident was carried out by Abul Azad and Anisur Rahman, an electrician and CBA leader of the bank.

On the other hand, Md Akmam Hossain, Senior Principal Officer of Islami Bank's Foreign Exchange Corporate Branch, was seen directly participating in the movement alongside the 'Sachetan Grahak Forum' (Conscious Consumer Forum). In another photo that went viral on social media, the bank's official Kamrul Hasan Bablu was seen speaking with a raised finger to the bank's Acting Managing Director, Altaf Hossain. Several other officials, including BM Anwar, were present beside him.

When contacted, Md. Akmam Hossain declined to talk regarding the allegations, while Abul Azad and Anisur Rahman could not be reached over phone.

Several officials informed the newspaper that Islami Bank's Circular Letter No: HRW/3046, dated December 28, 2025, directed officers and employees to maintain the highest level of professionalism in the workplace. It stated that in previously issued circulars—Instruction Circular No. HRD/1302 dated 19-02-2013, Instruction Circular No. HRW/1596 dated 10-04-2018, Instruction Circular No. HRD/8997 dated 24-05-2018, Circular No. HRD/2014/5497 dated 06-02-2014, Circular No. HRD/2016/6983 dated 12-05-2016, and Circular No. HRW/8153 dated 05-09-2017—all levels of executives, officers, and employees of the bank were instructed to maintain maximum professionalism at all times and to refrain from making or promoting any partisan or controversial comments on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and email.

An attention was drawn to Section 3, titled "Prohibition on Participation in Politics, Elections, etc.," included in Chapter 6 (General Conduct and Discipline Policy) of the bank's Human Resources Policy. 

It states that no officer or employee shall directly participate in any political activities. However, they are permitted to vote. They must not propagate any factional ideology, participate in factional debates, or indulge in factional nepotism that could compromise their dedication to duty, embarrass the bank's administration, or potentially cause dissatisfaction and resentment among bank officials, employees, and the general public. 

Narrow-mindedness, nepotism, politicization, and intentional misuse of office are strictly prohibited. Executive officers and employees of all levels within the bank are strictly forbidden from engaging in political activities or participating in communal disputes under any circumstances. It is explicitly mentioned that any violation of this directive will be treated as a punishable offense under the bank's human resources policy. This directive was issued through a circular signed by Senior Executive Vice President A.K.M. Kawsar Alam and Additional Managing Director Dr. M. Kamal Uddin Jasim.

Several bankers informed Khaborer Kagoj that while private banks in the country are complying with the decisions and directives of Bangladesh Bank, some officials of Islami Bank have staged protests by posing as customers. Even though this is a punishable offense, the bank has not taken any action against them.

When contacted regarding the comments in this regard, additional managing director Dr Kamal Uddin Jasim did not pick up the receiver, while Acting Managing Director Altaf Hossain also didn't receive the phone.

END/ASA

Companies and organisations will be required to file tax returns on the income generated by employee welfare funds from the current fiscal year and pay a 27.5 percent tax on the earnings. 

The Income Tax Act 2023 incorporates the provision, lifting the tax exemption and amnesty on the compulsion to file returns for funds such as provident funds, gratuity funds and workers' profit participation funds maintained by the private sector.

The law, however, has exempted government-managed provident funds from taxation, raising questions.

TIM Nurul Kabir, executive director of the Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said there were many other avenues to collect tax.

"Employees benefit from provident funds after their retirement. So, the authority should not slap taxes on retirement benefit."

He said while levying the tax, the government has not treated provident funds of the private and public sectors equally.

"It is discriminatory," he said, adding that they would appeal to the tax authority for the withdrawal of the tax on income from provident funds.

Debabrata Roy Chowdhury, director for legal, regulatory and corporate affairs at Nestlé Bangladesh PLC, said the introduction of income tax on trust funds would lower the overall income from such schemes.

"This will have an adverse long-term impact on retired employees of private organisations."

Chowdhury urged the authority to address the issue in line with the spirit of the government's initiatives aimed at ensuring social security for private sector employees.

"The recent introduction of the universal pension scheme for private sector employees is a good example of that."

A senior official of the NBR, on condition of anonymity, said the income of government-managed provident funds was exempted in line with the Provident Fund Act 1925.

He said provident funds under the private sector had been historically exempted and there was no requirement to submit tax returns. As a result, it was unclear whether the funds were properly utilised.

"From now onwards, we will see proper disclosure."

The tax official said the contribution of payroll tax is about 3 percent of the total income tax although it should increase as the economy is growing.

Md Shahadat Hossain, a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh, said income from investment in savings certificates, where people invest as a source of future earnings, is already taxed.

"From that perspective, the imposition of tax on provident and other employee welfare funds seems okay."

However, Towfiqul Islam Khan, senior research fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said social protection for private sector employees was low.

"Provident and other workers' welfare-related funds provide little social protection. The imposition of tax will increase inequality. But there can't be any discrimination in taxation between private and government provident funds."

Khan, citing the latest income tax law that replaced the Income Tax Ordinance 1984, said the NBR tried to find new avenues to increase tax collection and improve the nation's revenue-gross domestic product ratio, which is one of the lowest in the world.

"We can see the desperation of the tax authority to boost collection. This ultimately reveals the inability of the NBR to catch the tax evaders and illicit money makers."