The Bangladesh government says India has yet to officially inform them of the arrest of Proshanta Kumar Halder, who is wanted in Bangladesh in connection with scams worth billions of taka, in West Bengal.
Legal action will be taken to bring Halder back to Bangladesh once India informs us of the matter, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, reports bdnews24.com.
“PK Halder is a wanted man,” he told the media at an event at the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday. “We have been looking for him through Interpol for some time.”
“He has been arrested but we haven’t been officially informed of the matter [by India]. We will follow the legal steps…”
Halder is a former managing director of the International Leasing and Financial Services Limited or ILFSL and NRB Global Bank. He is accused of embezzling funds and purchasing large shares while taking control of four financial institutions, in which he placed his close associates in positions of power.
The Anti-Corruption Commission has so far prosecuted PK Halder and a number of his associates in at least 34 cases on charges of embezzlement of billions of takas and money laundering.
The investigators have charged them in court in one of the cases and three more charge sheets are awaiting the ACC’s approval.
As many as 13 of the accused have been arrested and grilled in custody while 11 of them have given statements confessing to their parts of the crimes. Court has slapped an overseas travel ban on 64 people in connection with the cases.
It also ordered a freeze on bank accounts of 83 associates of PK Halder and their immovable assets worth around Tk 10 billion.
Amid the ACC investigation, Halder fled.
The Enforcement Directorate of India conducted raids on 10 properties linked to Proshanta, Pritish Kumar Halder, Pranesh Kumar Halder and Sukumar Mridha throughout Friday, according to media reports.
The following day, Halder was arrested in India’s West Bengal, as were his wife Susmita Saha and his brother.
Attention now turns to his extradition. The home minister had told bdnews24.com on Saturday that steps would be taken to invoke the extradition agreement with India as soon as possible to return him to Bangladesh.
