EARTH Foundation chief admits to Tk 25cr fraud

EARTH Foundation Chairman Khan Mohammad Khalid Hossain, who is now on a two-day remand in an extortion case, admitted to Rab that he pocketed up to Tk 25 crore by fraud.
"He's so far given us three bank accounts … where we've found Tk 5 lakh," said a top Rab official.
Khalid was arrested at Panthapath in the city Sunday night on charge of swindling people out of around Tk 100 crore.
Major Mohammad Ehsanul Haque of Rab-2 said they are interrogating Khalid intensively to know where he has stashed away the huge money, adding that the agency is also trying to identify the people who helped him in the crime.
The Rab official said they have primary information that Khalid's family members, including his wife, assisted him in the cheating.
Meanwhile, people cheated by the EARTH Foundation chairman continued to file cases against him, with Rab saying that they have so far seen 28 cases against the disgraced NGO boss, the latest one being laid with Dhanmondi Police Station yesterday.
Rab officials said Khalid is a hardened criminal and would be taken on remand again as he is not spilling out enough information about his offence.
Khalid Hossain, earlier imprisoned for over two years for fraud, did not reveal the sources of money of his organisation's projects that involve crores of taka.
It is alleged that several thousand people who became members of the foundation's so-called micro-credit schemes did not get any loan, nor did they get back their deposited money.