The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that nowadays money laundering has become a serious financial crime.
So there is no scope to look in the cases filed for this crime lightly, also observed the court.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the observation while holding hearing to appeal petitions filed by the state, challenging the High Court orders that granted bail to Joy Gopal Sarkar, general secretary of Dhaka Wanderers Club, in four separate money laundering cases.
The Appellate Division at the same time scrapped the bail orders granted by the High Court to Joy Gopal Sarker and asked the lower courts concerned to complete the trial proceedings of these cases in one year.
Lawyer Momtaz Uddin Fakir appeared in the hearing on behalf of Joy Gopal Sarkar, while Additional Attorney General Sk Md Morshed represented the state and advocate Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Mr Khurshid Alam Khan said, “The Appellate Division has passed a serious observation while hearing the leave to appeal petitions filed against HC bail orders for Joy Gopal Sarkar. The court said nowadays money laundering has become a serious financial crime, so there is no scope to look on the cases filed for this crime lightly.”
Earlier on August 19, the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman granted bail to Joy Gopal Sarkar in the money laundering cases following four separate bail petitions filed by him.
Later the state filed four separate leave to appeal petitions against the High Court orders which came into the cause-list on Tuesday for hearing.
Joy Gopal was arrested on July 14 last year in connection with five money laundering cases filed at different police stations including the capital’s Wari and Sutrapur police stations, on various dates in 2019 and 2020.
Later, another case was filed against Joy Gopal with Bangshal Police Station on August 31 last year, said deputy attorney general AKM Amin Uddin Manik.
