The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a High Court order that issued an injunction preventing withdrawal of money by eleven individuals -- nine former People's Leasing and Financial Services Limited (PLFS) directors and two former officials -- from their accounts maintained with banks, non-bank financial institutions and cooperative societies.
A six-member bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order after dismissing a leave-to-appeal petition filed by Captain M Moazzem Hossain, one of the former directors, challenging the High Court order.
Barrister Ajmalul Hossain QC and Advocate Kamrul Hoque Siddiquee appeared in the court on behalf of Captain M Moazzem Hossain while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Barrister Tanjib ul Alam stood for the Bangladesh Bank.
After the court order, Barrister Tanjib ul Alam said, "The High Court order will remain in force following the SC order. So, the former directors of the People's Leasing will not be able to sell their property and their bank accounts will be frozen."
Barrister Ajmalul Hossain said in the hearing that BB initiatives against Captain M Moazzem Hossain and other former directors and officials are discriminatory as the central bank didn't take any action against them. So, the High Court order should be scrapped, he argued.
On July 14 this year, the High Court bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar issued an injunction preventing withdrawal of money by eleven individuals --- nine former PLFS directors and two former officials --- from their accounts maintained with banks, non-bank financial institutions and cooperative societies.
The 11 individuals including former PLFS directors M Moazzam Hossain, Nargis Alamin, Humaira Alamin, Arafin Shamsul Alamin, Mohammad Yusuf Ismail, Motiur Rahman, Biswajit Kumar Roy, Khobiruddin Mia and Mohammad Shohidul Haque, and former top executives Kobir Mustaq Ahmed and Nripendra Chandra Pandit would not be able to transfer their moveable and immoveable properties.
The HC also asked them to explain as to why their bank accounts would not be frozen permanently.
The HC bench passed the order after hearing an application filed by Bangladesh Bank under Section 29 of Financial Institution Act 1993 for liquidation of PLFS.
The HC accepted the prayer of Bangladesh Bank for PLFS' liquidation for hearing and appointed BB deputy general manager Md Asaduzzaman Khan as provisional liquidator of PLFS.
Bangladesh Bank filed the petition on July 14 with the High Court, seeking liquidation of People's Leasing as its financial health deteriorated badly in recent times because of loan irregularities.
As the scam-hit PLFS has been failing to repay depositors' money at the maturity, the central bank on May 21 this year requested the finance ministry to liquidate PLFS and got the finance ministry's approval on June 26.
Earlier, the BB removed its previous board of directors based on an inspection on June 09, 2015.
The situation of the NBFIs (Non-Bank Financial Institutions), however, continued to deteriorate despite the BB's move to revive its financial health.