Testimony against PK Halder, others begins
The testimony against former managing director of NRB Global Bank Proshanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder and 13 others in a case lodged for allegedly amassing illegal wealth and laundering money abroad started this morning.
Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of the Dhaka Special Judge Court-10 initiated the testimony today by taking witness from Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Md Salahuddin. The court also fixed 13 October for the next testimony.
Prior to that on 8 September, the court framed charges against the accused dismissing their exemption plea.
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Apart from Halder, the other 13 accused in the case are- Lilabati Halder, Purnima Rani Halder, Uttam Kumar Mistry, Amitabh Adhikari, Pritish Kumar Halder, Rajib Som, Subrata Das, Ananga Mohan Roy, Swapan Kumar Mistry, Avantika Baral, Shankha Bepari, Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha.
Among them, Avantika Baral, Shankha Bepari, Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha are in jail.
Halder, along with five others, were detained in Ashoknagar of the Indian state of West Bengal in the morning of May 14 this year.
According to the case, Halder and his other associates have embezzled thousands of crores of Bangladeshi Taka and siphoned off to India and other countries.
On March 1 last year, PK Halder fled Bangladesh through Jashore's Benapole land port. According to media reports, PK Halder possessed two passports -- one Bangladeshi and the other Canadian -- but he used his Bangladeshi passport to go to India.
In January, 2021, the ACC filed five cases against 33 people, including Halder, for allegedly laundering over Tk350 crore of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFSL).
He had laundered about Tk80 crore to Canada and amassed about Tk426 crore beyond his known sources of income, the case documents said.
