Flight Expert Faces Fraud Allegations, Three Top Officials Arrested

One of Bangladesh's prominent online travel agency (OTA) platforms, Flight Expert, is now under legal scrutiny following allegations of embezzling crores of taka from customers. Police have arrested three senior officials of the company in connection with the case.

The arrested individuals are Sakib Hossain (32), Head of Finance; Saeed Ahmed (40), Chief Commercial Officer; and A.K.M. Sadat Hossain (32), Chief Operating Officer of Flight Expert.

Confirming the matter on Sunday, August 3, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Motijheel Police Station Mezbah Uddin said that a customer named Bipul Sarkar filed a complaint the previous night against the owners of Flight Expert. Five individuals were named in the case, including the three who have been arrested. The remaining two accused are Salman Bin Rashid Shah Saim, Managing Director (MD) of Flight Expert, and his father M.A. Rashid. Efforts are underway to apprehend the remaining accused, the OC added.

Deputy Commissioner of the Media and Public Relations Department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Mohammad Talebur Rahman, stated, “Yesterday, several employees of Flight Expert lodged a complaint claiming that the company's owner, Salman Bin Rashid, shut down the business and fled abroad with his family, embezzling a significant sum of money. The complaint was filed at Motijheel Police Station. It later emerged that many individuals had their money tied up with the company. A total of around Tk 4 crore from 17 organizations was allegedly misappropriated before he fled. Following a formal complaint by one victim, a case was registered and three arrests have been made.”

It has been reported that Flight Expert abruptly ceased operations on Saturday evening, leaving thousands of customers and ticket agents in distress. Many had paid in advance for flight bookings.