Dhaka, July 21 -- Bangladesh's banking sector has been rocked after international audit firms revealed a huge hidden bad debt at some Shariah-based banks.

The latest update has surprised banking sector experts, including the Bangladesh Bank, as the findings suggest years of deliberate data manipulation by banks under the previous government, leading to severe underreporting of bad debts.

A forensic audit, scrutinizing the financial statements of these banks up to September of last year, painted a starkly different picture compared to Bangladesh Bank's official records.

Depositors of Bangladesh's troubled banks still anxious despite security assurances

While the central bank's records indicated a combined NPL of Tk 35,044 crore for the...