Trial against PK Halder, 13 others begins

A Dhaka court has framed charges against former managing director of NRB Global Bank Proshanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder and 13 others in a case lodged for allegedly amassing illegal wealth and laundering money abroad. 

Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-10 on Monday framed the charge against the accused dismissing their exemption appeal. 

Earlier, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) concluded the hearing of charge framing against them. 

Later, lawyer of the two accused of the case - Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha, claimed that their clients are innocent and ended the hearing by seeking exemption from the liability of the case.

The court scrapped the exemption plea and fixed September 8 for hearing the remaining charges.

Apart from Halder, the other 13 accused in the case are- Lilabati Halder, Purnima Rani Halder, Uttam Kumar Mistry, Amitabh Adhikari, Pritish Kumar Halder, Rajib Som, Subrata Das, Ananga Mohan Roy, Swapan Kumar Mistry, Avantika Baral, Shankha Bepari, Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha. 

Among them, Avantika Baral, Shankha Bepari, Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha are in jail.

Halder, along with five others, were detained in Ashoknagar of the Indian state of West Bengal in the morning of May 14 this year.

According to the case, Halder and his other associates have embezzled thousands of crores of Bangladeshi Taka and siphoned off to India and other countries.

On March 1 last year, PK Halder fled Bangladesh through Jashore's Benapole land port.

According to media reports, PK Halder possessed two passports -- one Bangladeshi and the other Canadian -- but he used his Bangladeshi passport to go to India.

In January, 2021, the ACC filed five cases against 33 people, including Halder, for allegedly laundering over Tk 350 crore of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFSL).

He had laundered about Tk 80 crore to Canada and amassed about Tk 426 crore beyond his known sources of income, the case documents said.