Unipay2u bosses jailed for 12yrs

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced six officials of unipay2u Bangladesh Limited, including its chairman and manager, to 12 years' rigorous imprisonment each in a case filed for laundering around Tk 1,351 crore through multi-level marketing sham.

They are Managing Director Mohammad Muntasir Hossain, Chairman Md Shahiduzzaman Shahin, Executive Director Masudur Rahman, General Manager AM Jamshed Rahman, Adviser Monju Ehsan Chowdhury and Director HM Arshad Ullah.

Of them, Muntasir, Jamshed and Arshad were present during the verdict while the rest are absconding. Judge Abu Syed Diljar Hossain of the Special Judge Court-3 handed down the sentence.

The court also fined them around Tk 2,702 crore and directed them to pay the fine in favour of the state within 180 days, in default legal actions will be taken against them.

Around Tk 420 crore seized from the convicts' accounts and all properties of unipay2u were also confiscated in favour of the state.

The punishment for the convicts, now in jail, became effective from yesterday and for the fugitives from the day of their arrest or surrender, the judge added in his judgement.

Earlier, the prosecution and defence completed arguments and the court recorded statements of 23 prosecution witnesses including the case's complainant.

On January 25, 2011, Taufiqul Islam, an assistant director of Anti-Corruption Commission, filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station against the officials of unipay2u, a so-called multilevel marketing company, for amassing money by cheating people.

In the case, it was alleged that the accused lured people into investing in gold, promising higher profit against the purchase.

After getting registration from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies & Firms on November 22, 2009, the accused started collecting money from people, which stands at around Tk 1,351 crore. They deposited the money in three banks.

Of the money, the accused withdrew over Tk 270 crore and transferred some in their personal accounts on different dates.

They also sold land in the company's name, which is tantamount to the offence of laundering money, according to the charge sheet. After an investigation, ACC on June 22, 2011 pressed charges against the six, which was framed on July 6, 2015.