A court here Sunday set July 15 for holding hearing of a case against former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others for allegedly embezzling Taka 4 crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.
Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 fixed the date allowing a state plea.
Today was fixed for cross-examination of investigation officer (IO) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director Benjir Ahmed by the defence. But the prosecution pleaded to adjourn the hearing as police failed to produce one of the accused former chairman of Farmers Bank’s audit committee Md Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty.
The IO submitted his testimony on April 1. A total of 20 witnesses out of 21 have so far testified in the case.
Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 on August 13, 2020, framed charges in the case.
ACC director Benjir Ahmed filed the charge-sheet in the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions 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-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on July 10, 2019, for embezzling Taka 4 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, Md Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty, bank clients Md Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha, his uncle Ranajit Chandra Saha, and Ranajit’s wife Santi 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 of his (Sinha’s) house.
