2 held over alleged embezzlement of Tk14.26cr from Al-Arafah bank’s Ukhia branch

Two people were jailed in connection with the alleged embezzlement of 14.25 crore taka deposited by 21 customers from an outlet agent branch of Al-Arafah Islami Bank in Palongkhali, Ukhia upazila. 

They are Hakim Uddin, 71, reportedly the owner of the agent banking establishment and Tahsin Alam, 21, a cashier.

Anwar Faisal Arif, a businessman from Palongkhali Bazar, filed a case with Ukhia Police Station in connection with the incident. 

The case also names outlet manager Habib Ullah Farhad, 32, co-owner Belal Uddin, 52, Md Yousuf, 31, Md Ishaq, 32, Md Abdullah, 33, Iftekhar Uddin, 35, and Zahir Uddin, 42, along with five to six unidentified others as accused.

According to the complaint filed with the police station, the outlet began operating as an agent of Al-Arafah Islami Bank around 2018 on the second floor of Yakub-Mustafa Market in Palongkhali Bazar, Ukhia upazila. 

As the accused were previously known to local customers, they opened accounts at the outlet in good faith and regularly deposited money and conducted transactions there.

Case plaintiff Anwar Faisal Arif claimed that his own account had a deposit of 555,000 taka. Besides, various amounts were deposited in the accounts of the 21 customers, with the amount totalling 14,25,79,944 taka, according to the complaint.

According to the plaintiff, at around 11am on Tuesday (August 18), he and others went to the outlet office and demanded the return of their deposit.

At that time, the accused argued with them, saying they would not be able to pay the money. A fight then broke out.

The other accused fled the scene in the meantime.

Later, when locals called the national emergency service 999, Ukhia police went to the spot and took the two detained men into custody. 

Police took them to Ukhia Upazila Health Complex and arranged medical treatment. 

The duty doctor, finding Hakim Uddin’s physical condition poor, advised that he be sent to Cox’s Bazar District Sadar Hospital for better treatment. 

Police later took him there and arranged treatment.

Ukhia Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Atikur Rahman Majumder said, “A complaint has been filed with the police station over allegations of embezzlement of customers’ money at an outlet branch of Al-Arafah Islami Bank in Palongkhali of the upazila. Following the complaint, police went to the spot and detained two people.” 

He said the two would be shown arrested and sent to court, which sent them to jail. 

Meanwhile, several attempts were made to contact outlet manager Habib Ullah Farhad for his comment on the allegations brought against him and other officials, but the mobile phone number he used was found switched off. 

Amirul Foyez, a customer of the bank, said, “I have been depositing money at that outlet for a long time. When I tried to withdraw money when I needed it, I was not given the money on various pretexts. Later, after checking my account and deposit receipts, I found that the money I had deposited did not match the amount shown in the account. This has left us customers extremely worried. We want arrangements to be made to return our hard-earned money quickly.”

Another customer, Runa Akter, said, “I deposited money at that bank outlet because I trusted it. When I went to withdraw money, I learned that the full amount deposited in my account was not there. We repeatedly contacted them but did not receive any satisfactory solution. Now our demand is that the accounts be properly verified and the money deposited by each customer be returned.”

Meanwhile, in the case statement, the plaintiff alleged that for some time, when he and other customers went to withdraw money for their needs, the accused refused to provide the money on various pretexts. 

Later, after reviewing their accounts, they found that a large portion of the deposited money was missing from the accounts. 

The complaint further alleged that when the accused were contacted about the matter, they kept delaying the issue by assuring customers that their deposited money would be returned.