The government is going to appoint an administrator to Jubo Karmasangsthan Society (Jubok) to compensate its 3.5 lakh affected clients. Taking Jubok’s Tk 6,500 crore unclaimed properties under government custody and selling the properties, the affected clients would be compensated, said sources.
The administrator would oversee the whole compensation process, they said. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal recently approved a proposal in this regard. The appointment would be finalised soon after consulting the commerce agency. Initially, a summary was sent to the Finance Minister from the Financial Institutions Department of the Ministry of Finance. There, the finance minister's active role and cooperation was sought to recover the money owed to the affected customer.
Senior Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division Asadul Islam said that the Administrator would take over assets of Jubok and its associate organisations including land and property and bank accounts. Steps to refund depositors’ savings along with interest would be taken by selling these assets in accordance with reports of the Government Probe Commission and Jubok Commission.
General Secretary of the Youth Welfare Society Mahmud Hossain Mukul said, With the approval of the Finance Minister, hope has been spread among 3.5 lakh clients of JUBOK. The finance minister understood the plight of helpless customers. We hope that our Commerce Minister will continue this initiative of Finance Minister.”
Vice President Ruhul Amin Khan said that through this initiative, the complications of more than a decade, has begun to open up. The summary sent to the finance minister states that about 1 crore people have been harmed by JUBOK. JUBOK authorities have seized Tk 2.5 billion of people who had made deposits with Jubok. The current market value of the assets created by JUBOK authorities through fraudulent means is more than Tk 6 billion.
Jubok started its operation in 1994 without having any license. Later in 1997, it got a license for operating micro-credit activities and collecting small savings from the people. Meanwhile, it established 20 organisations under different names in various sectors like financial institutions, telecommunication, tourism, healthcare, ceramics, housing, sea food, nursery, agro-based industries, and information and communication technology (ICT). In 2006, the issue of embezzlement and misappropriation of depositor money came to the fore.
To find ways to return the swindled funds, the government formed two commissions in 2010 and 2011 and an inter-ministerial committee headed by former Bangladesh Bank Governor Mohammad Farashuddin and former joint secretary Rafiqul Islam respectively.
