A Dhaka court Wednesday set June 27 for holding hearing of a case against former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others for allegedly embezzling Taka four crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.
Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 fixed the date as the subordinate courts and tribunals started holding hearings of cases with physical appearances, recently.
The defence was scheduled to cross examine the investigation officer and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director Benjir Ahmed on the next hearing date as he submitted his testimony on April 1 to the court. But, soon after that the court proceedings came to standstill due to the surge in Covid-19 cases.
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 against Sinha on July 10, 2019, for embezzling Taka four 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 Santi Roy.
According to the allegation, Md Shahjahan and Niranjan took the money as 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.
