Cooperative Directors Vanish with £700,000

In a brazen act of fraud ahead of the festive season, the directors of a cooperative in Bogura’s Malgram Chaporpāra area are alleged to have absconded with nearly 77 lakh taka, collected from members over the course of a year under the promise of supplying meat for Eid.

The scam came to light on Tuesday, 17 March, when members arrived to collect their orders and discovered the directors had failed to deliver. The incident has left around 1,200 families outraged and anxious about the loss of their savings.

According to local sources, three men—Abdul Hakim, Akram, and Shahin—established the Four Star Business Cooperative Society. They offered members the option of contributing weekly installments throughout the year, with the assurance that these contributions would culminate in a supply of meat for Eid.

Members stated that each “membership card” cost 5,000 taka, and many households purchased multiple cards, resulting in a total collection of approximately 77 lakh taka. Despite a scheduled delivery date of 15 March, the distribution was postponed to 17 March. On that day, however, no representatives of the cooperative could be found.

Residents expressed deep frustration and disappointment:

Following the disappearance, all cooperative activities have ceased, and attempts to contact the directors via mobile phones have failed. No trace of them has been found.

Stadium police outpost in-charge, Inspector Kamruzzaman, stated that victims have been advised to file formal complaints at the local police station. Legal action will follow once complaints are lodged.

The victims are urgently demanding the return of their deposited funds and have called for immediate intervention from the authorities. The case has sparked widespread concern in the community, highlighting the risks associated with informal cooperative arrangements and the need for regulatory oversight, particularly during festive seasons when such schemes are most prevalent.

The incident serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of small savers to fraudulent schemes and has prompted local authorities to review monitoring mechanisms for cooperative societies in the region.