Suo moto verdict over Wahidul, Abu Hena's bail on Apr 4

The verdict on suo moto (voluntary) rule over the bail of AB Bank's former chairman and the bank's former head of financial institutions and treasury will be delivered by the High Court on April 4.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on January 25 arrested M Wahidul Haque, former chairman of AB Bank; Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, the bank's former head of financial institutions and treasury; and businessman Saiful Haque -- three of the eight accused -- in connection with a case the ACC had filed over laundering of around Tk 165 crore between 2013 and 2014.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim yesterday fixed the date for delivering the judgement on the rule that was issued on January 31.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam appeared for the state while Advocate Arshadur Rouf and Advocate Sheikh Baharul Islam argued for the accused.

On January 31, the HC bench 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 to Wahidul and Abu Hena in the money laundering case should not be cancelled.

The court also issued a travel ban on Wahidul and Abu Hena over the money laundering charges, ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

He said the HC judges issued the order and rule following a report published in daily Jugantor regarding Wahidul and Abu Hena's bail granted by the lower court.

The ACC filed the money laundering case with Motijheel Police Station accusing eight, including the three arrested, at Segunbagicha in the capital.

After they were produced before a Dhaka court, it granted bail to Wahidul and Mostafa, but sent Saiful on a three-day remand.

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

This newspaper, based on an investigation report prepared by the Bangladesh Bank, published a news item on December 17 last year about the amount of money allegedly laundered from AB Bank to the UAE.

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.