The Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday filed four separate cases against five people, including the chairmen, managing directors and directors of four recruiting agencies, on charges of embezzling Tk聽310 crore through a syndicate that overcharged 18,563 workers bound for Malaysia.
The commission assistant director, Minhaz Bin Islam, filed the cases with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1 following approval of the commission, said ACC assistant director for public relations Tanzir Ahmed.
According to the case document, the accused, while holding various positions at the four recruiting agencies, formed a syndicate and embezzled the money, violating registration conditions.
Instead of the government-set amount of Tk聽78,990, they charged each worker five times more to send them to Malaysia.
The accused illegally collected money and engaged in transferring, converting, and laundering it, which resulted in financial losses for the workers, according to ACC findings.
The commission filed a case against Celebrity International chairman Farida Banu, and its managing director Md Abdul Hai on charges of embezzling Tk聽58.39 crore from 3,486 workers.
The anti-graft agency also filed a case against Odity International proprietor Bishwajit Saha on charges of embezzling Tk 64.52 crore from 3,852 workers.
The ACC filed a case against Rabbi International proprietor Mohammed Bashir over allegations of embezzling Tk聽52.72 crore from 3,148 workers.
The commission also filed a case against Irving Enterprise owner Hafzul Bari Mohammed Lutfur Rahman on charges of embezzling Tk聽135.28 crore from 8,077 workers.
On November 6, the commission filed six separate cases against 10 people on charges of embezzling Tk聽525.22 crore by overcharging the workers bound for Malaysia.
On September 14, the ACC filed 13 cases against 31 people of 13 overseas recruitment agencies for allegedly embezzling Tk聽1,159 crore in the same way.
Earlier, on March 11, the commission also filed 12 cases against owners and officials of 12 recruiting agencies, including former finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal and his family members among 32 people, on charges of embezzling Tk 1,128 crore in the same way.
