Anti-Corruption Commission officials Monday interrogated the chairman of Ideal Cooperative Society Limited (ICSL) and two other directors in connection with their alleged involvement in defrauding billions from over 70,000 clients.
A commission inquiry team led by Deputy Director Nasir Uddin, interrogated Chairman M Rafiqul Alam and directors M Fakhrul Islam and Kazi Shamsun Nahar Mina at the ACC headquarters.
Rafiqul Alam declined to comment on what he had talked about in the interrogation. However, Director M Fakhrul Islam told reporters that the group did not swindle the money, but was repaying the deposited money to the clients.
“We did not embezzle any clients’ money, nor did we run away. We are attending our regular duties at the head office and are now repaying the clients’ money,” he said.
The director also said that they had already repaid Tk4bn to its clients and other the payment of another Tk4bn was ongoing.
He said, “We have only 20,000 depositors and we are expecting to repay all the clients by December.”
On June 4, the commission team interrogated ICL MD HNM Shafiqur Rahman, who admitted there was no money at any of the bank accounts that belonged to Ideal Cooperative Society Limited, but the cooperative owned some property.
He also admitted that the company had swindled around Tk10bn from its depositors.
A commission official told the Dhaka Tribune that they were now conducting inquiry into the matter and had found that the company embezzled a little over Tk10bn from its clients.
“This figure is likely to get bigger as the inquiry progresses,” the official said.
Allegations were raised in February that Ideal Cooperative Society Limited, a sister concern of ICL Group, had offered high interest to depositors and swindled around Tk3bn.
Following complaints from depositors about not getting payments, the Department of Cooperatives initiated an inquiry where they suspected the senior officials of ICSL could have misappropriated around Tk3bn from its 70,000 clients.
When the cooperative department started the inquiry in February 25, the society shut off all the 33 of its branches in Dhaka, Narshingdi and Comilla.
ACC on March 20 formed a five member probe committee, headed by Deputy Director Nasir Uddin, to investigate the matter.
