Aziz Co-op chair held over embezzlement of Tk300 crore

Chairman of Aziz Co-operative Commerce and Finance Credit Society Ltd M Tajul Islam has been arrested by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in connection with illegally amassing Tk300 crore and money laundering.

Tajul Islam, 69, was held from Motijheel area in the capital on Wednesday last, said Molla Nazrul Islam, special police super (SSP) of CID (Organised Crime Unit), at a Sunday press conference at the CID Headquarters.

There is an accusation of misappropriation of Tk300 crore against him, said Nazrul.

During the primary interrogation, Tajul confessed to his wrongdoings and said he had sent two of his sons to Canada by embezzling money from general people, he said.

The company had 160 branches across the country, and the branch managers used to convince general investors to invest in the company, Nazrul added.

The company has about 50 thousand customers across the country.

“In our primary investigation, we found that activities of the company were not usual for a cooperative association,” the CID official said.

They have a licence of a cooperative society but use “bank” in the names of their branches.

“But as per law, they cannot seek people’s investment using a cooperative association licence,” Nazrul further added.

According to CID sources, Tajul also has vast properties, including a house, in Canada, and CID is now investigating the source of money to buy these properties.

“We found more than 50 bank accounts in Tajul’s name. We are going to freeze these bank accounts as well,” said a senior CID officer.

According to sources, Tajul Islam was the investment head of Islami Bank Ltd from 1984 to 2002. Later in 2005, he joined Aziz Co-operative Commerce and Finance Credit Society Ltd.

Would the victims get their money back in real?

One of the victims Md Abdullah Hel Baki from Jamalpur said he invested in the company getting induced that they offer “profit” per month instead of “interest” which is haram (illegal) in the eye of Islam.

“In the beginning, I used to get the profit. But from 2016, they started dilly-dallying. When I claimed my whole capital back, they also started doing the same thing,” said Baki, a retired school teacher who invested his whole pension in the Aziz Co-operative.

“My life has become difficult as I invested my last savings in the company,” he said, sighing out concerns if he will ever get his money back.

In reply to a question whether victims will get justice, CID SSP Nazrul said, “Actually, this is not our but court’s jurisdiction. If we investigate the case properly and submit our report to the court, we expect victims will get justice and get their money back.”