ringID director on 2-day remand
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court passed the order
A Dhaka court on Saturday placed ringID Director Saiful Islam on a two-day remand in an embezzlement case.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court passed the order after the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) produced him before the court seeking five days' remand.
CID arrested Saiful Islam from Gulshan in the capital on Friday, following an embezzlement case filed against 25 officials of the controversial social media platform, including its owners.
ringID allegedly embezzled over Tk200 crore in just three months this year by luring people into its Ponzi scheme of promising online income.
The platform stopped selling memberships and money transactions from 23 September after The Business Standard and other media brought their fraudulent activities to light.
Several law enforcement agencies, who have been keeping an eye on ringID for the last one month, told TBS that the actual amount embezzled might be higher. Bank statements from other months are now being scrutinised.
On 28 September, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the Bangladesh Bank sought the bank details of ringID when the CID requested for their bank details. The BFIU also asked banks to inform if there are any bank accounts belonging to ringID Distribution Limited and ringID BD Limited.
ringID, which follows a typical MLM model but calls itself a "community business", multiplies the number of its members, offering current ones Tk1,500 to Tk1,700 for adding a new member.
They give money to students for viewing and sharing adverts, adding new members to ringID, selling its products and coin transactions.
Lured by hefty earning offers, existing members assemble their family members, friends and acquaintances on the ringID platform.