PK Halder among five sued in Ctg

A case was lodged with a Chattogram court accusing former NRB Global Bank managing director Prashanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder and four others yesterday.

PK Halder allegedly embezzled and laundered over Tk 10,000 crore of four non-banking financial institutions abroad and had an Interpol red notice issued against him following a request by Bangladesh Police.

Mohammad Abdul Alim Chowdhury, former managing director of Clewiston Foods and Accommodation, filed the case with the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sarwar Jahan, said the plaintiff's lawyer Rubel Paul.

The four other accused are: Zahangir Alam, 54, from Banani area in the capital, Md Siddiqur Rahman, 52, from Uttara area, Uzzal Kumar Nandi, 41, from Tejgaon area, and Ratan Kumar Biswas, 54, from Krishnagar area in Pirojpur, according to the case statement.

"Taking the case into cognisance, the court ordered the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate the case," said lawyer Rubel.

Quoting the case statement, the lawyer said plaintiff Abdul Alim, who had 64 percent share in Clewiston Foods and Accommodation, had a deal with the American Radisson brand for constructing a hotel in Cox's Bazar named "Radisson Blu Hotel Cox's Bazar". But he failed to get loans after approaching different financial institutions, he said.

"During the incident, Reliance Finance of PK Halder had given loans to Clewiston Foods and Accommodation. PK Halder had asked Abdul Alim to hand over his 55 percent share to him and four others in exchange for financing the project in 2014," said the lawyer.

The lawyer said, "Taking the share of the company, the five neither financed the project nor paid Abdul Alim for the shares. When the plaintiff asked PK Halder about their activities, PK Halder told him that he would pay after giving him loans against his company, but he did not."

The court set June 16 for next hearing on the case, he added.