Jashore asstt postmaster general arrested on charges of embezzlement
Jashore police arrested Assistant Postmaster General of the Jashore main post office Abdul Baki on Friday on charges of embezzling Tk1.78 crore by forgery using savings accounts of 17 customers at the post office.
The embezzlement incident came to light during the investigation of a probe team on Friday and Saturday.
Newly appointed Assistant Postmaster General of Jashore main post office Golam Rahman Patwari filed a case as the plaintiff with Jashore Kotwali police station in this incident.
The matter came to light when Baki tried to withdraw Tk13 lakh on 2 February through fraud from a savings account of Muhammad Ali.
Deputy Postmaster Meherunnesa said that she doubted the withdrawal as the government in an order on 18 May 2020 prohibited keeping more than Tk10 lakh as savings in the post office. But seeing the documents of Tk13 lakh from the savings account she doubted it.
Later, it was found that there was only Tk100 in that account. When the matter was informed to the head of Khulna zone, he ordered to stop the withdrawal of money.
On 8 February, a team headed by Post Master General of Khulna Shamsul Alam came to investigate at Jashore main post office and stand-released Abdul Baki two days ago after an investigation.
Baki was handed over to Jashore Kotwali police station from Khulna that night.
Tajul Islam, officer-in-charge of Kotwali police station said that the case will be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
A probe body was formed in this regard through a letter signed by Postmaster General Shamsul Alam to investigate the rest of the activities of Baki.
Feroz Ahmed, assistant postmaster general of South Khulna and a member of the investigation team said that the investigation is still going on. It will be closely monitored whether Abdul Baki has misappropriated the remaining money.
"I have come to know that a case has been filed for embezzlement of money in the name of customers from the post office. The case will be forwarded to us. Then we will look into the matter," ACC Jashore Deputy Director Al Amin said.
Jashore Division Deputy Post Master General Mirazul Haque said that Abdul Baki joined as Post Master General on January 2022. After that, he showed his administrative power and took control of the ledger book and withdrew Tk1.78 crore using the savings accounts of 17 customers.
On 25 January, he first withdrew Tk4.5 lakh from an account. Last, on 30 January, he withdrew Tk14 lakh using the savings book of an account holder called Parveen of Kharki area of the city which had only Tk2,500 deposited.
Baki used to withdraw the money on days when the counters were crowded in the names of different government officials due to which the officers at the counter did not get a chance to verify.