Alleged Toronto condo fraudster in Bangladesh

Bangladeshi news outlets are reporting that Manzoor Moorshed Khan — a property management company owner who allegedly absconded with millions of dollars defrauded from Toronto area condos — also allegedly committed fraud in his home country.

The Daily Amaders Homoy alleges that Khan defrauded locals of $100,000 in a 1984 scheme promising to send Bangladeshi workers to the Middle East but then vanished. The daily Bengali newspaper notes he was never charged, but questions arose about whether he paid off police officers. None of those allegations have been proved.

Described by the newspaper as the "man from Magura," Khan allegedly has been constructing two large buildings and a mosque in his hometown located in Sreepur, in the southwestern Magura district.

Locals describe Khan as a generous man who gave money to local groups, including a madrassa or Muslim religious school.

The newspaper said Khan is known by the nickname Azad or referred to as the son of Sayed Asadul Azam. Neither Khan nor relatives were around when reporters visited the town, but locals claimed to have seen him a week prior.

One local police officer is quoted by the paper as saying Khan received a licence for a pistol and a shotgun five days ago at the police station.

Khan and his company, Channel Property Management, currently face at least three civil lawsuits in the Toronto area, plus a criminal investigation by the Toronto police fraud unit.

The lawsuits, totalling more than $6 million, allege that contract documents were forged, kickbacks taken and signatures falsified. However, the total loss is expected to rise by millions of dollars as more condos discover loan fraud.

Two of the lawsuits allege the company siphoned money from condos after rigging the tender process in favour of certain companies. However, one outlines a rare type of loan fraud where the company employees and owner allegedly pretended to be board members in order to secure multi-million dollar loans that they later absconded with.

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