A court in Dhaka has directed the authorities concerned to publish a gazette asking former managing director of NRB Global Bank Prashanta Kumar Halder, better known as PK Halder, and nine others to appear before it.
Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after getting reports from different police stations on the execution of arrest warrants issued against PK Halder and nine others in a case filed over amassing about Tk 4.26 billion illegally and abnormal transaction of Tk 60.80 billion through different bank accounts.
Lawyer Mir Ahmed Ali Salam who appeared in the case hearing on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) said, “Four among the 14 accused of the case are under jail custody and 10 others including PK Halder are fugitives. In this circumstance, the court ordered to publish a gazette against them.”
PK Halder and four others were arrested in India on May 14 this year. But the matter will not be taken into consideration until or unless he is brought back to Bangladesh, said the ACC lawyer.
The nine others who face arrest warrants are--- PK Halder's mother Lilabati Halder, his brother Pritish Kumar Halder, Purnima Rani Halder, Amitav Adhikari, Rajib Som, Subrata Das, Ananga Mohon Roy, Uttam Kumar Mistri and Swapon Kumar Mistri.
On March 27, the same court accepted the charges against PK Halder and 13 others in the case. The judge also issued an arrest warrant against PK Halder and nine others as they were shown as "fugitives" in the charge sheet.
Four accused of the case, Abantika Baral, Shangka Bepari, Sukumar Mridha and Anindita Mridha, are now in jail in the case. They were produced in the court on Wednesday.
PK Halder and his cohorts also laundered Candian Dollar 11.71 million to Canada, according to the charge sheet.
Meanwhile, the judge on Wednesday rejected a bail petition of PK Halder's close aide Anindita Mridha after her lawyer moved it on grounds that she had been in jail since January 2021.
