The law enforcement agencies are yet to arrest eight senior members of Jubo Karmasangsthan Society (Jubok) who have been accused in a case filed on charge of embezzling Tk2,588 crore.
Sub-Inspector Amirul Islam on June 15 filed the case with Paltan model police station against Jubok Chairman Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, Executive Director Hossain Al Masum and directors Md Muniruddin, Syed Rashidul Huda Chowdhury, Rahima Khatun, Tahmina Sultana, Mahmuda Begum Mina and Habibullah Miah.
An official of the Home Ministry said no headway in the probe into the case had been made as the police filed the case, but the Anti-Corruption Commission was carrying out the investigation.
Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission M Badiuzzaman on Monday said, “The investigation into the case has been delayed because we are now dealing with a huge number of cases.”
“The ACC will take tough stance against eight Jubok members who were allegedly involved with swindling people’s money,” he said.
A source in bank and financial intuitions division said some of the accused were still attending the office, but the police did not take legal action against them.
The Jubok Commission in March last year submitted a report to the Ministry of Finance and suggested taking legal action against the officials of Jubok, a multilevel marketing company, and appointing an administrator for its better management.
Former Chairman of the Jubok Commission Rafiqul Islam said a criminal case was filed against Jubok members as per the recommendations put forward by the committee. “Another major suggestion was made to appoint an administrator to protect the assets of Jubok,” he added.
Jubok’s operations were suspended and bank accounts frozen in 2006 on charges of illegal banking. Jubok took deposits worth around Tk3,000 crore from thousands of its members, offering hefty returns.
Jubok set up over a dozen subsidiaries, including Jubok Medical Service Ltd, Unique Boot and Tarpaulin Industry Ltd, Jubok Agrobiotic Ltd, Unique Stock Management Ltd, Eastern University, Swift Capital Management Ltd, Crown Leather Complex Ltd and Lama Rubber Industry Ltd.
Besides, out of 91 land development projects, 59 projects had no land and 18 land projects were in trouble.
A total of 33.52 acres of land with multi-storey buildings was sold from the rest of 18 projects and five buildings were occupied by different owners. It also bought shares of IFIC Bank and RTV.
According to the report, none of the clients, who were lured by Jubok into depositing their money for big returns, received any fund even after a government commission recommended returning about Tk2,588 crore by selling Jubok assets, but the firm has Tk47 lakh in its accounts in different banks.
Last month the Commerce Ministry formed a seven-member committee, headed by Joint Secretary Abdul Mannan, and asked the committee to submit its report by September 30.
The committee would review the recommendations of the two commissions formed earlier to investigate the forgery by Jubok.
Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior commerce secretary, told the Dhaka Tribune, “We will take action as per the recommendations of the committee.”
It is not possible to turn Jubok into an MLM company as it was formed before formulation of MLM law last year, he said. “So, the clients should get their money back.”
The government formed two commissions, one in 2010 and another in 2011, headed by former governor of Bangladesh Bank Mohammad Farashuddin and former joint secretary Rafiqul Islam to return the money.
Nearly one year ago, the Finance Ministry rejected an application submitted by Jubok for soft loans of Tk1,000 crore to repay the liabilities of its members, a top official said. Jubok sent the letter to the finance minister on October 2, 2013.
Hossain Al Masum, executive director of Jubok, claimed that they had paid liabilities of 225,000 members worth Tk700 crore. Of which, Tk200 crore was paid in cash and the remaining amount was cleared in return for plots and lands.
“We have sought Tk1,000 crore soft loans from the government to return all liabilities of our members by next year. The government can take out mortgage of our assets across the country against the loans,” he said.
