A Dhaka court on Monday ordered that former general Masud Uddin Chowdhury be shown arrested in a case involving the laundering of over Tk100 crore through a recruitment agency, Five M International, under the guise of processing papers for workers heading to Malaysia.
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sefatullah passed the order following an application by the investigation officer. Sub-Inspector Moktar Hossain of the Prosecution Department confirmed the court’s decision.
Masud Uddin Chowdhury, who served as the managing director of Five M International, was produced in court during the hearing. Public Prosecutor Mohammad Shamsuddoha Sumon argued in favour of the arrest plea, after which the court ordered the accused to be sent to jail.
The money laundering case was initiated on 28 August last year at Banani Police Station by CID Sub-Inspector Moniruzzaman, naming 33 individuals, including the former general.
According to case documents, Five M International allegedly embezzled Tk100.75 crore by overcharging 9,372 migrant workers between 18 August 2016 and 30 May 2024.
While the government-fixed fee for sending a worker to Malaysia was Tk78,990, the agency reportedly charged each person Tk1.5 lakh. Additionally, workers were forced to pay a further Tk 36,500 for passport expenses, medical exams, Covid tests, and clothing fees.
In total, the agency allegedly collected an excess of Tk1,07,510 from each individual.
Earlier, on 23 March, Masud Uddin was arrested from a house on Lane 2 of Baridhara DOHS in connection with a human trafficking and Tk 24,000 crore embezzlement syndicate case.
He was subsequently placed on a five-day remand and was later shown arrested and remanded in several other cases, including murder. Following multiple rounds of questioning, he was sent to jail on 7 May.
Two days after his initial arrest, on 25 March, Additional Special SP of CID Police Abdul Hadi applied to have him shown arrested in the money laundering case. The hearing on the matter was deferred several times before the court finally granted the order this Monday.
