Different government bodies have 42 percent of the total of the four NCBs' top 20 default loans outstanding with them.

The top government loan defaulters include the food ministry (Tk 430 crore loan with two NCBs), Bangladesh Textile Mills Corporation (Tk 345 crore with three NCBs), Adamjee Jute Mills (Tk 126 crore), Khulna Newsprint Mills (Tk 74 crore with one NCB) and Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (Tk 60 crore with a bank).

The remaining 58 percent of NCBs' top 20 default loans, lying with the private sector, is also almost beyond their reach as most defaulters have already obtained stay orders from the High Court on the banks' loan recovery attempts.

Defaulters at present hold up Tk 10,575 crore in outstanding loans with the NCBs -- Sonali, Rupali, Janata and Agrani banks. Of them, the top 20 defaulters of the NCBs together have Tk 3,488 crore or 33 percent of the total.

The public sector borrowers that are on the top 20 lists have been holding up loans for a maximum of 13 years and minimum of four years.

Bankers allege recovery attempts by the NCBs appear to be overlooked by the government borrowers. "All we can do is repeatedly urge the government offices concerned to return our loans," says an official of Rupali Bank, with which the government has Tk 295 crore default loan. "If the government doesn't repay us, we've nothing to do," he added.

A finance ministry official noted, "There had been no discussion at our level on how or when these default loans will be repaid. We have sought assistance from the World Bank in this regard under its Banks Modernisation Project."

Some odd names appear among the top government defaulting bodies such as Bangladesh Autorickshaw Chalak Samabaya Samity, which is not a government entity. But the name falls in the government borrower category, as local government and finance ministries are the guarantors for a total of about Tk 60 crore loan that it took from three NCBs.

"This is a political loan," alleged a source, "the samity really doesn't need Tk 60 crore for anything."

Explaining the reason for the huge amount of loan defaulted by the food ministry, banking sources said the amount has piled up over the years as the ministry borrows money to import foodgrains but does not pay back properly afterwards.

Top private sector loan defaulters, on the other hand, get away through legal loopholes, prompting Law Minister Moudud Ahmed to ask officials last week to investigate why the High Court so frequently issues stay orders on lower courts' verdicts upon the loan defaulters' petitions.

"As a result of the tough Money Loan Court Act, a number of small- and medium-level private defaulters in recent times did show up to repay their loans," said a high official of Sonali Bank. "But the big defaulters get away using their money and political clout in the courts and the government."

The central bank has been persistently and increasingly hammering the NCBs to recover default loans and clean up their books, giving way to the recent special initiative undertaken by the banks concerned.