PK Halder’s Scams: Why ex-BB dy governor, ED not arrested yet

The High Court yesterday asked the Anti-Corruption Commission why ex-deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank SK Sur Chowdhury and its Executive Director Shah Alam have not been arrested for helping PK Halder embezzle and launder a huge amount of public money from four non-banking financial institutions.

"Either arrest them [SK Sur and Alam] or conduct an inquiry. If they are found involved in the scams, arrest them. Otherwise, clear them of corruption charges," the court told ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan at a hearing on a suo motu (voluntary) rule issued earlier.

About the escape of Proshanta Kumar Halder, known as PK Halder, the HC said that if the commission wanted, it could have informed the immigration officials over mobile phone about the travel ban on him to prevent him from fleeing the country.

"What was the difficulty for the ACC in informing the immigration officials?" it asked.

There was negligence on someone's part, leading to the failure in detaining PK Halder, observed the bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim.

To sustain the country's development, every house has to be turned into a fort to fight corruption, it mentioned. 

PK Halder, former managing director of NRB Global Bank, allegedly siphoned around Tk 10,200 crore from the four NBFIs -- People's Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (PLFSL), International Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFSL), FAS Finance and Investment, and Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company.

According to reports, he fled the country through Jashore's Benapole land port on October 23, 2019.

Yesterday, Khurshid told the HC that Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has been scrutinising the bank statements of SK Sur and Shah Alam.

The commission will take necessary steps against them after receiving BFIU reports, he said.

The lawyer claimed that there has been no negligence on the part of the ACC in taking steps against PK Halder.

The commission sent a notice to the immigration department by post about the travel ban on PK Halder on October 22, 2019. The immigration officials got it around 10:30am the following day.

The ACC also sent a copy of the notice through WhatsApp at 2:43pm and the immigration officials acknowledged receipt of the notice at 4:30pm on October 23, 2019, but PK Halder had left the country at 3:38pm that day, he added.

Justice Nazrul asked the ACC lawyer what actions have been taken against the persons whose names came up in the confessional statements by the accused in the money laundering case filed against PK Halder and others.

Khurshid said some of the accused were arrested and the rest are on the run.

He further said it was the ACC that discovered through enquiry PK Halder's involvement in corruption. The commission did not detain him earlier as there was no complaint against him.

"He was not in the limelight at that time," the lawyer said.

The HC bench ordered the ACC to submit a report by April 6, explaining what actions have been taken against SK Sur, Alam and others in connection with the money laundering case.

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik told the HC bench that the immigration officials at Benapole got the notice at 5:47pm on October 23, 2019. But PK Halder left the country through the port at 3:38pm that day, two hours and nineminutesbefore the officials received the notice.

The ACC could have verbally informed the immigration officials before sending the notice as the matter was of public importance, said the DAG.

As per the HC bench's earlier order, he submitted to it a report on behalf of the inspector general of police with details of 59 immigration officials who were on duty at the land port on October 23, 2019.

Meanwhile, the BB submitted to the HC bench a list of 354 officials, who were in charge of overseeing financial institutions and money laundering issues from 2008 to 2020.

Lawyers Tanjib Ul Alam and Khan Mohammad Shamim Aziz, who appeared for the BB, sought time from the HC to enquire about those responsible for the bankruptcy of some financial institutions in the country. The court gave the BB seven weeks to submit the report.

The HC bench on November 19 last year issued the suo motu rule, asking the authorities to show causes why their inaction and failure to bring back and arrest PK Halder should not be declared illegal.

TRAVEL BAN ON 122 DEFAULTERS

Another HC bench has ordered the police to prevent 122 borrowers, who defaulted on loans from the PLFSL, from leaving the country as they did not appear before the court in line with its January 21 directive.

The law enforcement agencies have been directed to remain alert and vigilant so that the borrowers cannot leave the country until further order.

Earlier, the HC bench had issued summonses on 286 loan defaulters. Of them, 164 appeared before it on February 23, 25 and March 9 this year while the remaining

122 borrowers did not.

In the full text of the order, the HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar asked the law enforcers to provide all necessary assistance to the liquidator of PLFSL in getting details about the borrowers.

The bench had passed the order on March 9 while hearing a petition filed by the BB in 2019 seeking permission to liquidate the PLFSL.    

The liquidation process began after the PLFSL board informed the BB in April 2019 about its inability to pay back its depositors' money despite maturity of the deposits.