A Dhaka court yesterday ordered its staff to serve summon to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and three members of her family asking them to respond by April 12 in the Dandy Dyeing Ltd loan default case.
The three are Khaleda’s son late Arafat Rahman Koko’s wife Sharmila Rahman Sithi and his daughters Zafia Rahman and Zahia Rahman, who are now in Malaysia.
After hearing a petition submitted by state-owned Sonali Bank, Judge Fatema Ferdous of the Money Loan Court 1 asked for the order to be served to addresses in Dhaka’s Gulshan. But the court officials did not allow anyone to see what exactly was written in the order.
An employee of the court told the Dhaka Tribune that the order had asked Koko’s wife and daughters to respond either personally or through their counsels by April 12. On that day, the court will also hear on the case.
Sonali Bank’s lawyer Jahangir Hossain said the summon was meant for notifying the respondents that they were named as defendants in the case after Koko’s death.
On March 16, the same court granted a Sonali Bank prayer for including Khaleda, Sithi and the two girls as defendants.
The other defendants in the case are Dandy Dyeing directors Tarique Rahman, Khaleda’s eldest son, Giasuddin Al Mamun, his wife Shahina Begum, Nasrin Iskander, wife of late Sayeed Iskander, his sons Shams Iskander and Shafin Iskander and daughter Sumaiya Iskander, Gazi Galib Abdus Sattar, Shamsun Nahar and Masud Hassan.
According to the case documents, on October 2, 2012, Nazrul Islam, senior executive officer of Sonali Bank Ltd, filed a money suit with the court as the defendants failed to repay the loan amounting to Tk45.59 crore.
Dandy Dyeing borrowed Tk12.16 crore from the bank’s principal office in Dhaka on October 16, 2001, the case statement said.