SK Sinha’s Trial: His brother, nephew testify against him
The elder brother of former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and one of his nephews yesterday gave their depositions before a Dhaka court in a money laundering case.
They are SK Sinha's brother Narendra Kumar Sinha and nephew Shankhajit Sinha.
Judge Shaikh Nazmul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka recorded their statements. The defence for the accused cross-examined Narendra, but could not complete cross-examining Shankhajit.
Meanwhile, Mahbubul Haque Chisty, one of the accused, fell sick on the dock and he was taken to Dhaka National Hospital.
The judge then fixed January 13 for the next hearing of the case.
In their statements, Narendra and Shankhajit told the court that as per direction of SK Sinha, a joint account was opened at Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd's Uttara Branch in their names in which Tk 2.25 crore was transferred without their knowledge.
Narendra said he was an employee of the Shipping Ministry and he was retired from service in January of 2005.
Narendra Sinha said his brother SK Sinha one day told him that he [SK Sinha] needed to open a bank account for a special purpose, but it was impossible for him as he was a government service-holder.
Narendra Sinha also said he never went to the bank and did not sign any cheques, adding that he had no business transactions.
Moreover, he had no knowledge of depositing money to their joint account from SK Sinha's account at the Supreme Court branch of Sonali Bank; SK Sinha was "solely aware" of it, Narendra continued.
He also said he never went to that bank and did not sign any cheque. Besides, he had no business relationship with Shankhajit.
In his deposition, Shankhajit told the court he went to Uttara branch of Shahjalal Islami Bank following a request from his uncle SK Sinha and signed some papers given by the manager.
He also said he didn't know anything about transactions of the account and his uncle SK Sinha and his wife made transactions in that account.
Shankhajit also said as per SK Sinha's direction, he opened two FDRs of Tk 50 and 10 lakh at Dhaka Bank Ltd's Uttara Branch and later he deposited Tk 14 lakh to Dhaka Bank's EPZ branch.
Earlier on August 18, complainant of the case Anti-Corruption Commission Director Syed Iqbal Hossain gave his statement before the same court.
Sixteen out of 18 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant, gave their statements.
Seven of the accused were present in the court yesterday while Sinha and three others are on the run.
On December 10 last year, the ACC pressed charges against the 11 accused.
On August 13, the same court framed charges against them.
Justice Sinha resigned on November 11, 2017, from abroad. He is now in the USA.
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