Bangladesh, Aug. 20 -- Bangladesh Bank has approved the disbursement of nearly $3.2 million against a letter of credit (LC) for SS Power-1 Limited, a power company owned by the controversial S Alam Group, despite the group's outstanding loans running into thousands of crores of taka.

The central bank's Banking Regulation and Policy Department-2 issued a notification on Wednesday conveying the approval, which has been sent to all banks in the country.

The move follows an earlier decision last Sunday granting the company permission to open the LC in the first place.

According to the notification, the approval covers the disbursement of the remaining $3,197,561 from a foreign currency syndicated loan sanctioned by Rupali Bank in favour of...