Published : 25 Mar 2026, 10:58 PM
Updated : 21 Aug 2026, 03:31 PM
A petition has been filed to show retired three-star general Masud Uddin Chowdhury arrested in a case over “embezzling Tk 1.19 billion after sending workers to Malaysia”.
Masud, whose role was widely discussed during the army-controlled caretaker government of 2007-8, had previously been accused in a case over human trafficking.
The investigating officer in the case, Anti-Corruption Commission Assistant Director Abul Kalam Azad, filed the application in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judges’ Court Acting Judge Moinuddin Chowdhury on Wednesday.
ACC Assistant Director Aminul Islam said the judge set Apr 9 for a hearing in the presence of the suspect.
Masud is the managing director of a recruiting agency called 5M International. In 2018, he had been elected to the 11th parliament from the Feni-3 constituency on the Jatiya Party ticket.
The ACC filed the case against Masud and others on Mar 11 over allegations of irregularities and corruption in the company.
The application to show cause for arrest states that Masud and the other accused in the case “abused government power for malicious purposes through mutual collusion and criminal breach of trust”.
“They were appointed as agents for the recruitment of Malaysian workers and took more money from them than the Tk 78,990 set by the government. They used the influence of ruling party MPs to create a criminal conspiracy to extract extra money from recruited workers at various stages and harming them. They accepted illegal remuneration as public servants outside the contractual legal remuneration and by performing activities beyond those of the contract.”
The application says the suspects embezzled a total of Tk 1.19 billion in excess fees in the name of passport and health examinations while sending 7,124 workers to Malaysia.
“A case was filed against Masud Uddin Chowdhury and others on this charge on Mar 11. If he is released on bail, he may obstruct the investigation. In the interest of a proper investigation, it is particularly necessary to show him arrested in this case,” the petition stated.
Masud was arrested from his house in the Baridhara DOHS area of Dhaka on Monday night.
Police detectives presented him in court on Tuesday and petitioned for remand, showing him arrested in a case over human trafficking and embezzlement.
Altab Khan, the proprietor of Afia Overseas, filed the case with Paltan Police Station on Sept 3 last year.
After hearing the Detective Branch’s petition, the court allowed them to question Masud for five days while in their custody.
As he was taken from the court to jail, an agitated crowd in the area threw eggs and dirty water at him.
