A Dhaka court today adjourned the hearing of a case against former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others till March 3 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 two new prosecution witnesses testified in the case today and were cross-examined by the defence.
Padma Bank Executive Vice President Ehsan Khasru and former executive vice president of Dhaka Bank Wahidur Rahman testified in the case as PW-19 and 20 respectively. The Investigation Officer (IO) of the case is scheduled to testify in the case on the next hearing date.
Twenty out of total 21 prosecution witnesses have testified in the case so far.
Also read: Nephew testifies in graft case against former CJ Sinha
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 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, form Ebezzling 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 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.