A Dhaka court on Monday ordered police to arrest former BNP lawmaker Mohammad Mosaddak Ali Falu for smuggling Tk183.92 crore to Dubai through offshore companies.
The officer-in-charge (OC) of Cantonment police station has been asked to execute the order by March 24.
Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court passed the order after the OC of Banani police submitted a report saying the address mentioned in the FIR and charge sheet is under Cantonment police.
The other two accused are SAK Ekramuzzaman, director of RAK Paints Limited, and Syed AK Anwaruzzaman, director of Star Ceramics Private Limited.
Falu is the owner of NTV and a former advisor to BNP chief Khaleda Zia. He is now on bail. He was shown "fugitive" in the charge sheet as he did not appear before the court.
On September 30 last year, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar submitted the charge sheet in the case filed under the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012.
On December 13, the same court accepted the charges and issued an arrest warrant against Falu as he was shown as a fugitive in the charge sheet.
The name of Md Amir Hossain, former director of RAK Consumer Products Ltd and Star Ceramics Private Ltd, was dropped from the charge sheet as the charges against him could not be proven.
Falu was previously arrested in 2015 in connection with arson cases.
In 2014, he was fined Tk1 crore for share market manipulation in 2009, based on recommendations by an investigation committee led by former Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Khondokar Ibrahim Khaled.
According to the ACC, the three accused opened offshore companies – Al Medina International Limited, Three Star Limited and Development EU – in Dubai, and siphoned off Tk183.92 crore in 2010.
They did not take permission from Bangladesh Bank to operate these companies in Dubai and failed to provide documents when asked by the anti-graft body.
The ACC also said Falu amassed illegal wealth for malicious purposes through abuse of power and corruption during the BNP-Jamaat led government in 2001-2006.
In 2019, a Dhaka court ordered the commission to seize Tk343 crore worth of property from him.
