BMPCA demands to arrest officers and employees of postal department guilty of embezzlement

Apart from Tk 2 lakh of Parul Begum of Tanore Upazila in Rajshahi district, postal department employees have embezzled a total of Tk 55 crore from customer money deposited in post offices and from own funds of the postal department. 11 such irregularities were found to be true. The Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology has written to the ACC to take action against these employees. 

However, Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association-BMPCA, an organization vocal about consumer rights, has demanded the quick arrest of the culprits, not only just sending letters.

This demand was announced in a press release signed by the organization's president, Mohiuddin Ahmed, on Thursday. In these demands, he said, yesterday the State Minister of Post, Telecommunication and Information Technology took responsibility and said that some dishonest officials and employees of the postal department have embezzled 51 crore taka from customers. And the ACC has been informed in a letter to take action against them, the state minister said. Thanks to the Minister of State for this on behalf of the BMPCA. And since the money embezzlers are identified, they can be punished with departmental punishment and speedy arrest may be executed for their criminal offences. Also, the Director General of Posts cannot be released from liability due to neglect of his duties.

He also said that ensuring punishment through ACC is a time-consuming matter. The Ministry of Posts and the Department themselves can plead guilty to criminal offenses in the criminal court and even may file a case in the finance court on charges of misappropriation of money. Along with that, we think it is necessary to form a separate impartial expert committee to investigate the corruption and irregularities of the postal department.

It has been informed from the sources of the Postal Department, recently there was a complaint of embezzlement of Tk 2 lakh deposited by a woman named Parul Begum in the family savings card at Tanor Upazila Post Office of Rajshahi. Parul Begum tried to commit suicide after not getting the money back. After that, their investigation revealed that Tanor Postmaster Moksed Alam had embezzled Tk 1 crore 84 lakh from 51 people including Parul Begum of Tanor. Apart from this, the cases of embezzlement is reported in other post offices as well; i.e., Tk 29 crores in Chattogram GPO, Tk 9.5 crores in Noakhali Post Office, Tk 2 crores in Barisal Medical College Post Office, Tk 2 crores in Patuakhali Post Office, Tk 1 crore 84 lakhs in Jashore Post Office, Tk 73 lakhs in Shyampur Post Office. Moreover, there are cases of embezzlement of Tk 12 lakhs in Saving Certificates (Sanchaypatra) in Dinajpur Post Office.