SK Sinha graft case hearing adjourned till Dec 28

A Dhaka court has adjourned till December 28 the hearing of a case against 11 people including former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha for allegedly embezzling Tk4 crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.

Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court 4 passed the order as a new prosecution witness (PW) testified in the case on Tuesday.

M Atif Khaled, first vice-president of Padma Bank Limited, testified as prosecution witness and was cross-examined by the defence afterwards.

Total 14 prosecution witnesses out of total 18 have so far testified in the case.

Dhaka Special Judge Court 4 on August 13 framed charges in the case.

Investigation Officer (IO) and ACC Director Benjir Ahmed filed the charge-sheet in the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Session Judge KM Imrul Qayes on December 10, 2019.

The court, however, on February 20, 2020, transferred the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court 4 for further proceedings.

The anti-graft body filed the case on July 10, 2019, for embezzling Tk4 crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.

The other accused are – former Farmers Bank managing director AKM Shameem, first vice-presidents Swapan Kumar Roy and Shafiuddin Askaree, senior executive vice-president Gazi Salauddin, vice-president M Lutful Haque, bank’s entrepreneur director Md Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty, bank clients Md Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha, his uncle Ranajit Chandra Saha and Ranajit’s wife Santree Roy.

According to the allegation, Md Shahjahan and Niranjan took the money on loan from then Farmers Bank, which was later transferred to Justice Sinha’s Sonali Bank account, showing it was earned from selling off his (Sinha’s) house.