23 swindlers sued, two arrested in Patuakhali

A case has been filed against the chairman and 22 staffs of 'RDP Finance and Investment Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd' who went into hiding allegedly after embezzling about Tk 50 crore from a few thousand depositors in three upazilas under the district.

ATM Shahid Ismail, a depositor of the company, also a resident of Adalatpara area in the district town, filed the case with Patuakhali Police Station on Friday under Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.

The same day, agitated depositors caught and handed over to police Rasedul Islam, 35, manager of Patuakhali branch of the swindler organisation, and Jewel, 19, its MLSS. 

Rasedul and Jewel are residents of Gabua village under Patuakhali Sadar upazila and Najirpur village under Baufal upazila respectively. 

"I deposited a total of Tk 5 lakh to the organisation under their 'fixed deposit' scheme in 2012 but recently I found various irregularities in their transaction," goes the case statement.

"As I asked for return of my money, the officials concerned assured me of returning my total money on May 4. But when I went to the office I found nobody there and the office was locked. I learnt that they went into hiding after embezzling about Tk 50 crore from a few thousand depositors," he added.

SM Ziaul Huq, officer in charge of Patuakhali Police Station, said, "We are trying our best to arrest the other accused. The Anti-Corruption Commission will investigate the matter."

RDP Finance and Investment Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd opened its activities in a hired building on Patuakhali Sadar Road in 2012 with its chairman Ibrahim Khalil, former president of Narayanganj district unit of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami.

In the same year, they opened two more branch offices in Baufal and Galachipa upazila towns in the district and by giving attractive interest offers, they collected about 5,000 subscribers under fixed deposit scheme, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly deposit schemes, and double/triple benefit schemes.