Court asks for probe report on case against Sinha

A Dhaka court directed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to submit investigation report concerning a money laundering case, filed against the former Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others, by August 28. 

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh, at the Senior Special Judge’s Court in Dhaka, passed the order after receiving the First Information Report concerning the case, sent by the ACC. 

The ACC on Wednesday filed a case against Sinha and 10 others on charges of misappropriation and laundering of about Tk 4 crore from the Farmers Bank in 2016.

The accused bank officials are -- Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer AKM Shameem, First Vice-Presidents Swapan Kumar Roy and Shafiuddin Askaree, Senior Executive Vice-Presidents Gazi Salauddin and Ziauddin Ahmed, and Vice-President M Lutful Haque of former Farmers Bank Ltd (now Padma Bank Ltd). Other accused are:  M Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha, Santree Roy and Ranajit Chandra Saha.

According to the case report, Niranjan Chandra Saha and M Shahjahan transferred Tk 2 crore each from their accounts with the Gulshan Branch to the former CJ’s account through separate pay orders.

According to the report, Niranjan Chandra is the nephew of Ranajit Chandra, while Ranajit and Shahjahan are childhood friends. 

According to the case report, all of the accused would be tried for siphoning off the money in league with each other between November 2016 and September 2018.

The report also said that they tried to transfer and amass the money, which constituted offences under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012.

On April 25, 2018, the commission initiated an inquiry into a complaint from an unknown source, informing that Tk 4 crore had been transferred to the bank account of the then CJ.

The inquiry against Sinha began after his resignation from the post on November 10, 2018 amid serious controversies, kicked off by a unanimous Appellate Division verdict.