Move to sue Jubok on the cards

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Syful Islam The government is considering a move to sue the top bosses of the now-defunct Jubo Karmasangsthan Society (Jubok) to recover billions of takas that it had accepted from thousands of individuals as "deposits" with the promise of offering them some "hefty" returns. Concerned officials of the ministry of finance (MoF) on Thursday last sought Finance Minister AMA Muhith's endorsement of this move so that cases can be filed against the Jubok bosses. The MoF officials acted on the suggestion of the commission on Jubok that was formed earlier by the government to make a probe into its various kinds of irregularities. "The Jubok high-ups are dillydallying to pay back the depositors' money and not cooperating with the government. So, the commission has suggested legal actions against them in order to the recover the money," a senior MoF official told the FE. "We are now waiting for approval of the move by the minister," he said. The two-member commission, headed by Rafiqul Islam, a former joint secretary of the government, has found that Jubok owes Tk 32 billion to 267 thousand clients across the country. The commission has also found that total liabilities of the organisation were far in excess of the value of its assets. Mr Islam told the FE he had written to the government, suggesting legal actions against the Jubok high-ups to create pressure on them to return the depositors' money. "The Jubok high-ups are not cooperating with us. They will automatically return the money to the depositors if they are put under pressure," he observed. The commission, the tenure of which is scheduled to end next month, is expected to submit a final report to the government regarding Jubok's irregularities, recommending the ways to recover the depositors' money. "We are hopeful of submitting the report within the timeframe. If, for any reason, we are unable to do that, we'll seek an extension of time from the government," Mr Islam added. Sources said the commission had sought help and cooperation of the deputy commissioners (DCs) in gathering information about land and other properties owned by Jubok. But most of the DCs could not provide information in this connection. Four organisations and individuals including, among others, those of RTV, Victoria University, Atish Dipankar University and former government secretary Mokammel Haque have voluntarily wanted to pay back to the commission the Jubok-invested money to the tune of Tk 250 million (25 crore). Sources said the commission found the actual investments by Jubok in such organisations to be much higher than what they wanted to pay back. The commission is now ascertaining the actual amount that Jubok had invested in the organisations. Mr Islam earlier told the FE Jubok had invested money across the country under different names other than Jubok. It also siphoned off money from these organisations by taking loans from banks against them, he added. Earlier, the Bangladesh Bank in May 2012 suspected that some commercial banks might have links with Jubok and its associate organisations in laundering money abroad. Jubok's operations were suspended in 2006 on charges of involvement in illegal banking. Operations of their bank accounts had also been suspended then. None of the top bosses of Jubok could be contacted for comments. However, on its website the Jubok officials claimed that until 2011, it paid back about Tk 6.0 billion (600 crore) -- Tk 2.0 billion in cash and Tk 4.0 billion in the form of land adjustment. It set a target to repay Tk 5.45 billion to the depositors by 2012 -- Tk 200 million in cash, Tk 2.25 billion against adjustment of land and Tk 3.0 billion in 'different other ways'.