The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against Prashanta Kumar Halder -- also known as PK Halder -- and 20 others for embezzling around Tk35 crore from FAS Finance and Investment Limited through a loan scam by using the names of non-existent companies.
With this, 28 corruption cases have so far been filed against PK Halder and his associates.
Rakibul Hayat, assistant director of the ACC, filed the case at the commission’s Dhaka integrated district office on Thursday.
Muhammad Arif Sadeq, deputy director of the ACC public relations office, confirmed the matter.
An ACC official, requesting anonymity, told Dhaka Tribune that the companies only existed on paper and their profiles had been created digitally.
According to the ACC, PK Halder and his associates took loans amounting to Tk45 crore from FAS Finance against the non-existent company Nature Enterprise, but around Tk35 crore of the total amount was directly transferred to various financial institutions created by Halder.
He used layering procedures to conceal the source of the money through a series of transactions and bookkeeping tricks.
On February 16, the ACC sued 13, including PK Halder, in 13 cases over misappropriation of Tk523 crore.
PK Halder fled the country through the Benapole Land Port on October 23, 2019.
The defendants of the cases include former managing director (MD) of International Leasing and Finance Prashant Kumar Halder, Director of Nature Enterprise Mumtaz Begum, Director of International Leasing and Financial Services Nowsherul Islam and Chairman of FAS Finance and Investment Siddiqur Rahman, among others.
