Man arrested over Tk 25 lakh embezzlement through forged savings certificate encashment

Police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly embezzling Tk 25 lakh by manipulating the National Savings Certificate (NSC) system through forgery and unauthorised encashment.

The arrest came after it was revealed that a group had illegally accessed a Bangladesh Bank user ID issued by the Department of National Savings (DNS), altered customer mobile numbers and bank details, and encashed savings certificates using forged information.

Abul Khair Md Khalid, additional director of Bangladesh Bank, filed a case with Motijheel Police Station on Wednesday, naming four accused: Arifur Rahman, 32, Maruf Elahi, 36, Al Amin 23, and Mohiuddin Ahmed, 46.

Motijheel Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mezbah Uddin told The Daily Star that Arifur Rahman was arrested on Thursday evening, while the others are absconding. Among them, Maruf Elahi is a former Chhatra Dal leader, according to a central leader of the organisation.

According to the case statement, the fraud was discovered on October 27 when Audit Officer Manjur Alam from the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General noticed that a Tk 25 lakh savings certificate purchased by his superior SM Rezvi appeared as encashed in the system, although Rezvi had never applied for encashment.

Further checks showed the certificate had been encashed on October 23, without any application on record. The day before, the mobile number and bank account linked to the certificate had been altered, redirecting it to an NRB Commercial Bank Raniganj sub-branch account under Arifur Rahman's name.

Investigators also found that Arifur Rahman's transaction limits were illegally increased from Tk 2 lakh to Tk 10 lakh.

Following the discovery, Rezvi lodged a written complaint with the executive director of Bangladesh Bank's Motijheel office on October 29. The case was later filed after Bangladesh Bank and the Savings and Pension Fund Management System (SPFMS) confirmed irregularities in the system.

Meanwhile, prompt action by the Savings Certificate Branch and Bangladesh Bank's Computer Cell led to the recovery of Tk 50 lakh transferred through two electronic fund transfers (EFTs) from Dutch-Bangla Bank on October 28, which was returned to the government account.

SPFMS later confirmed that similar fraudulent transactions had taken place, including two additional certificates encashed on October 27 through a Dutch-Bangla Bank account under Maruf Elahi's name. The transactions were frozen following intervention by the Computer Cell and the bank.

Areif Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, told The Daily Star that the central bank has formed a committee to investigate the incident.

He added that officials responsible for maintaining server passwords have been transferred, and the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is also conducting a probe.