A two-judge High Court bench yesterday sent the documents regarding the suo moto (voluntary) rule over the bail of AB Bank's former chairman and the bank's former head of financial institutions and treasury to the chief justice for constituting a larger HC bench to settle the issue.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on January 25 arrested the duo -- M Wahidul Haque, former chairman of AB Bank, and Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal -- and a businessman Saiful Haque in a case over laundering around Tk 165 crore between 2013 and 2014. Yesterday, the bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim was scheduled to deliver a verdict on the rule over the legality of the bail granted by a lower court to Wahidul and Abu Hena.

But, the bench said a larger bench of the HC might be constituted for hearing and disposing of this case.

Some HC benches have earlier given different opinions on granting bail to the accused during the trial proceedings against them and therefore this matter was sent to the chief justice for taking necessary steps, the bench said.

ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that after receiving the documents, Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will take necessary steps.

On January 31, the HC bench led by Justice Enayetur Rahim issued the suo moto rule asking the government, Wahidul and Abu Hena to explain why the bail granted by a Dhaka court on January 25 in the money laundering case should not be cancelled.

It also issued a travel ban on the two.

The HC judges issued the order and rule following a report published in the daily Jugantor regarding Wahidul and Hena's bail. The ACC filed the money laundering case with Motijheel Police Station accusing eight.

The other accused are: M Fazlur Rahman and Shamim Ahmed Chaudhury, ex-managing directors of AB Bank; Md Lokman, head of the bank's offshore banking unit; Md Mahfuz Ul Islam, its vice president of corporate treasury department, and Nurul Azim, its senior vice president.

According to the case statement, businessman “Saiful introduced his friends and members of international fraud syndicate Khurram Abdullah and Abdus Samad Khan to Wahidul [former AB Bank chairman] to launder money from AB Bank.”

Saiful, chairman of Sky Aviation Services that is the general sales agent of Fly Dubai, is believed to be one of the kingpins of the money laundering syndicate. Saiful was remanded for three days in the case.