A permanent commission on Jubo Karmasangsthan Society (Jubok) has recommended the appointment of an administrator to sell the defunct organisation’s assets and pay back clients who were cheated.
The government, however, would not be able to appoint an administrator to oversee the activities of Jubok until the proposed Direct Sale Act 2012(MLM law) has been enacted, an official said.
Business licenses of the 17 subsidiaries of Jubok, a multilevel marketing company, should be cancelled by the relevant government authority, said a commission report, preparedat the end of its two-year tenure. The 178-page report was submitted to Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.
Jubok's operations were suspended in 2006 on charges of involvement in illegal banking. Its subsidiaries include interests inhousing, telecommunication,real estate development,tourism, health and agriculture.
Chairman of the commission, Rafiqul Islam, told the Dhaka Tribune that existing criminal laws and the Commission of Inquiry act 1956 will be amended to return money to the clients who had made deposits with Jubok.
As per the commission findings, some 303,739 clients are owed about Tk2.6bn around the country, but Jubok has only Tk7.8m with 48 banks.
The commission did not audit the total assets of Jubok as it was not in the term of reference.
The commission also recommended amending provisions 406 and 420 of the criminal law, money laundering law and the inquiry act 1956 to punish those involved, “so they can never again cheat the common people with promises of windfall profit”.
“We hope the government will implement the 20 recommendations made by the permanent Jubok Commission, along with enacting the Direct Sale Act 2012,” Rafiqul said.
Rafiqul, a former joint secretary atthe home ministry, also said that an appointed administrator will confiscate Jubok assets with the assistance of local UNOs (upazila nirbahi officers).
Meanwhile, four organizations – RTV, Victoria University and Atish Dipankar University – had voluntarily offered to return Tk250m to the commission. But it found that the actual Jubok investment in these organizations was much higher than what they proposed to pay back.
In 2010, the government formed a probe commission, headed by former central bank governor Mohammad Farash Uddin, which recommended a permanent commission to ensure depositors get their money back from Jubok's assets. The government, in May 2011, formed the permanent commission for two years.
