Master of swindling
Fifteen years ago, he started working as an imam in a Pirojpur mosque. Around the same time, he joined a multi-level marketing (MLM) company with a salary of only Tk 900.
Two years later, Mufti Ragib Ahsan established his own MLM company named "Ahsan Real Estate", enticing people into making interest-free investments following Islamic Shariah with promises of lofty returns.
Ahsan even used programmes like waz-mahfil and well-known religious preachers to attract attention of the devotees in Pirojpur and other parts of the country and called on them to invest in a Tk 1 lakh deposit scheme. In the first year, he managed to get around 10,000 clients, accumulating a sum of Tk 110 crore.
Ahsan, now the chairman of Ahsan Group Pirojpur, established 17 businesses using the MLM company's money, most of which have now vanished. The company could not pay profits to its investors since 2018, let alone return their deposited money. As cases after cases were filed against Ahsan, he went into hiding.
The Rapid Action Battalion yesterday arrested Ahsan, 41, and his brother Abul Bashar Khan, 37, a director of the company, from Topkhana Road in the capital on charge of swindling crores of taka through the shady businesses.
Rab initially said in a SMS sent to the media that the amount of the embezzled money was around Tk 17,000 crore, but its Legal and Media Wing Director Commander Khandaker Al Moin could not exactly say what the amount was during a press conference later in the afternoon.
"The Anti-Corruption Commission and the Criminal Investigation Department [CID] of police will figure out how much money they have actually embezzled," Moin told reporters while replying to queries at the briefing held at the Rab's Media Centre in Karwan Bazar.
"He has embezzled the hard-earned money of ordinary people under the guise of various different organisations involving housing, land projects, shops, and religious educational institutions. He has so far admitted to collecting Tk 110 crore," he said.
The Rab official said Ahsan allured people by using their religious sentiments.
He created his business strategy by targeting devotees and other ordinary people in different parts of Bangladesh and attracted investors with what he claimed was "Shariah-compliant interest free investment".
"This man used individuals involved in religious educational institutions, imams and others for making money. He also campaigned in Waz Mahfil. He enticed people with the promise of hefty profits per month by investing lakhs of taka," said the Rab director.
"Ragib Ahsan said he was able to get 10,000 customers in 2008. Now the number of customers is said to be around one lakh," Moin said.
There are at least 15 cases against him with different police stations, he added.
Talking to The Daily Star, Md Saifulllah, one of the clients, said his father deposited over Tk 2 crore with the MLM company.
"Ahsan brought famous preachers from Dhaka and other places in a Waz Mahfil in our area. There, they campaigned for the company and assured that it is a Shariah-based investment. He promised to give an excessive profit on the deposit scheme. And people made investment," said Saifullah.
He said 16 out of 17 establishments of Ahsan Group are not in operation anymore.
"My father has fallen ill after losing his hard-earned money," he said.
The Rab official said Ragib Ahsan used to deceive the customers in various ways. In some cases, he forges cheques. Many went to bank to collect their cash but the cheques bounced.
The victims also said many of them were intimidated, humiliated and tortured.
Many of them held human chains, press conferences and spoke to the media demanding justice, he added.
He said there are about 300 employees at the Ahsan Group. These employees were not paid any salary, but used to get 20 percent commission on the customer's investment. As a result, he was able to increase the number of customers quickly.
Rab said Ahsan had his close relatives at the company's important positions.
Victims claim that by collecting money in the name of these organisations, he has acquired property and land in the name of family members and close relatives, according to Rab.
Ahsan started his education in a madrasa in Pirojpur in 1986 and completed Hadith in Daura from a madrasa in Hathazari in 1996-1999 and became Mufti from a madrasa in Khulna in 1999-2000 before began working in a madrasa in Pirojpur, according to Rab.
"The victims told us that Ahsan indulged in innumerable irregularities to swindle the money from them," said the Rab director.
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