The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge鈥檚 Court on Monday accepted a charge sheet against former NRB Global Bank managing director Proshanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, and 23 others on charge of embezzling Tk聽102 crore from International Leasing and Financial Services Limited.
Judge Mohammed Ash-Shams Joglul Hossain accepted the charges after scrutinising the documents in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on January 21, 2021.
The court also issued warrants for the arrest of 19 fugitives, including PK Halder, and asked the police to submit reports on the execution of the warrants on September 9.
On April 29, ACC deputy director Gulshan Anowar Pradhan, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the court.
The other accused are Anan Chemicals managing director Amitav Adhikari, its directors Pritish Kumar Halder, Ujjal Kumar Nandi, Purnima Rani Halder, Rajeev, Ratan Kumar Biswas and Omar Sharif, ILFSL former managing director Rashedul Haque, former acting managing director Syed Abed Hasan, vice-president聽 Nahida Runai, assistant vice-president Al Mamun Sohag, senior manager Rafsan Riad Chowdhury and company secretary Rafiqul Islam Khan, ILFSL directors Nurul Alam, Nasim Anwar, Md Nuruzzaman, MA Hashem, Md Abul Hashem, Zahirul Alam, Anwarul Kabir, Nowsherul Islam and Vashudev Banerjee.
According to the charge sheet, the accused took Tk 63.44 crore as loan in the name of fake company Anan Chemical Ltd from the leasing company and the amount stood at Tk 103 crore along with interest until October 16, 2022 which was embezzled and laundered by the accused.
The rest of the 52 cases, filed against PK Halder and 85 others between 2020 and 2022 on charge of embezzlement of Tk 3,400 crore from various financial institutions in the name of companies owned by PK Halder and his family, are still under investigation.
PK Halder came to limelight during the anti-casino drives in 2019, when the commission launched an investigation into the involvement of 43 people in the illegal casino business in Bangladesh.
PK Halder and his five associates, accused of money laundering, were arrested in North 24 Pargana in the West Bengal in India on May 11, 2022. He is now in an Indian jail.
A Dhaka Special Judge鈥檚 Court on October 8, 2023, sentenced PK Halder to 22-year imprisonment and 13 others to seven-year jail in a case filed in January 2020 on charge of laundering Tk 80 crore to Canada and amassing about Tk 426 crore illegally.
