Staff Correspondent

He used to pose as an additional secretary of an important ministry, rode a luxurious car with the ministry’s sticker and frequented the secretariat with fake ID to lobby for works in government projects, bank loans and jobs.

According to law enforcers’ claims, having two offices at the capital’s Gulshan and Karwan Bazar, the fraudulent activities of Abdul Kader, a tenth-grade dropout, have been ongoing for 14 years, until he was arrested by the detective branch (DB) of police on Thursday.

At a press briefing at Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Media Centre yesterday, DB chief AKM Hafeez Akhter said, “Kader used to say that he has a consortium and business relations with 33 secretaries and top officials.”

He also introduced himself as a legal adviser of business magnate Moosa Bin Shamsher and former Jubo League leader GK Shamim. He has fooled many established people, he said.

He added that Kader has embezzled crores of taka through getting large bank loans and works in government projects under the false identity.

Gulshan DB police, in collaboration with an intelligence agency, carried out a drive and arrested four people, including Kader, from Karwan Bazar, Mirpur and Gulshan areas, according to DB sources.

The other arrestees are Kader’s wife Sharmin Chowdhury and his office staffers Shahidul Alam and Anisur Rahman.

A foreign pistol and different types of genuine and fake documents were seized from Kader’s office.

DB said Kader carried out fraudulent activities using names of different companies like Dhaka Trade Corporation, Jamider Trading, Sameen Enterprise, Chowdhury Group, Human Improvement Foundation, Satota Properties, Dana Logistics and Dana Motors.

He started doing all this sometime between 2004 and 2006 through the government project “Ekti Bari, Ekti Khamar”. During this period, his organisation Human Improvement Foundation embezzled crores of taka from general people.

“Kader used to tell sub-contractors that he had received works for different government projects and showed fake documents to convince them. He would then sell fake work orders to the contractors. Besides, he also took money for job recruitment,” said the DB official.

Posing as an additional secretary, Kader took a hefty amount of money as “visiting fees” and commissions to lobby for jobs. Some of the victims were present at the media centre yesterday.

Joynal Abedin, a supplier who needed a loan for a government project, said he contacted Kader, after getting a visiting card from a marketing executive of Kader’s office.