Sultan of swindle

He created some businesses that exist only on papers, took loans from one non-banking financial institution and used the money to buy shares of another to gain control of the latter.

Eventually Prashanta Kumar Halder took loans from four non-banking financial institutions (NBFI) and is believed to have left the country with at least Tk 3,500 crore.

The four NBFIs are now in serious crisis, officials said.

But far from being bothered by law, he now lives in Canada.

The NBFIs he had ravaged are People's Leasing and Financial Services, International Leasing and Financial Services Ltd, Reliance Finance Limited, and FAS Finance and Investment Ltd.

The allegations against Halder were made after the ACC launched an enquiry into illegal casino owners last year. On January 8 this year, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case against him for amassing property worth around Tk 274.91 crore from unknown sources.

In order to hoodwink any future investigation, the suspected fraudster, better known as PK Halder, used to move his money among multiple financial institutions and accounts.

PK Halder was a deputy managing director of Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IIDFC) in 2008. He  joined Reliance Finance as its managing director in 2009. He became the managing director of NRB Global Bank in July 2015.

Between 2015 and 2019, his cousin Amitav Adhikari was the director of People's Leasing and Financial Services and former colleague Uzzal Kumar Nandi was its Chairman.

Amitav is also the managing director of Anan Chemicals. Its current director and chairman is Uzzal and his wife Anita Kar is its director. Although they were at the helm of the organisation, PK Halder was its actual owner, ACC officials said.

Anan Chemicals borrowed Tk 70.82 crore from International Leasing and Financial Services (ILFS) in 2015 to expand the business.

"But they mostly laundered the money out of the country," said an investigator requesting anonymity.

The probe found that no collateral was kept against the loan probably because PK Haldar owned shares in the company.

Of the money, about Tk 5 crore was transferred to Ookayama Limited -- another borrower of the leasing company on June 15, 2016.

Four days later, about Tk 9.4 crore was transferred to Hal International's account at Bank Asia's Dhanmondi branch. Two days later, the money landed on PK Halder's personal account.

Another Tk 11.14 crore was used to reconcile loan of Deya Shipping Limited that borrowed from Reliance Finance.

Managing Director of Reptile Farm Rajib Som received Tk 10 lakh.

Analysing a bank account history of Anan Chemicals with Shahjalal Islami Bank, investigators found that about Tk 15 crore was transferred from ILFS on November 15,2015.

The money was later transferred to Borno Neutrical and Arbi Enterprizes' accounts with Shahjalal Islami Bank and misappropriated.

Another Tk 7 crore was transferred to the bank on November 17, 2015 from ILFS. The money was also transferred to Sukhada Ltd, another client of Shahjalal Islami Bank.

The money was eventually transferred to accounts associated with PK Halder.

Amitav and Uzzal then used the money to buy shares of PLFS and they became its director and chairman respectively.

They borrowed more money from ILFS using fake borrowing identities, source said, adding that in the same way they then borrowed loan from People's Leasing and ran the company to the ground.

Documents show that PK Halder transferred Tk 104 crore to his friend and Mercantile Bank Director AKM Shaheed Reza's five organisations.

Another Tk 74 crore was transferred to the owner of JK Trade International and former managing director of Bank Asia Irfan Ahmed Khan from seven accounts of businesses that exist on papers only.

To misappropriate the loans, PK Halder used 14 name-only business organisations. He used two addresses for these organisations. One of the addresses is 56, Purana Paltan Lane.

"He misappropriated money by giving loans to only paper-based organisations through fraudulence, irregularities and graft. To dodge investigators, he then transferred the money to different accounts from where the money flowed to him," an official said.

At a board meeting of International Leasing on January 30, 2017, about Tk 60 crore was sanctioned to MTB Marine Ltd.

"But the money did not reach MTB Marine's account."

About Tk 5.5 crore was transferred to the accounts of Padma Weaving Ltd, Padma Bleaching and Dyeing Limited and Fashion Plus Ltd. the companies are owned by AKM Shaheed Reza, director of Mercantile Bank.

About Tk 26.65 crore working capital loan was sanctioned to Konika Enterprise but the money was not also transferred rather it went to different accounts.

On March 8, 2016 about Tk 11.5 was transferred through three cheques to Total Transportation Ltd's account at Standard Chartered Bank.

Through three cheques another Tk 6.7 crore were transferred to Sandip Corporation's Bank Asia account on March 10 and March 15 of 2016. Swapan Kumar Mistri was the owner of Sandip Corporation.

On February 8, 2016 about Tk 1.65 crore landed at one Sadab Hossain's account at Meghna Bank.

About Tk 3.3 crore was transferred to Mercantile Bank's client Denim Processing Plant Ltd on March 8, 2016.

Another Tk 2 crore was transferred to the bank accounts of Hal International and Moon Enterprize at Dhanmondi Branch of Bank Asia on September 21, 2016.

Reza's Padma Weaving also received a chunk of the loan. About Tk 1.5 crore was transferred to Padma Weaving's account on November 2, 2016.

One Milon Kumar applied for loan on June 13, 2017 to the managing director of ILFS. There was no detailed contact information except an address.

There was no information about the company with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC). Within a few days of application, the loan was sanctioned and about Tk 38.5 crore was transferred to different accounts.

Between August 2, 2017 and September 18, 2017 about Tk 23 crore was transferred to Irfan Ahmed Khan's account.

Another Tk 7 crore was transferred to Reza's Fashion Plus and Padma Weaving Ltd's account between August 03, 2017 and September 27, 2017.

About Tk 8.5 crore was transferred to Subrata Das and Subhra Rani Ghosh's business account with IFIC Bank between August 13, 2017 and September 04, 2017.

Board of directors, chairman and managing director of ILFS were also responsible for it, found the ACC enquiry.

ACC's Deputy Director Gulshan Anowar Prodhand is enquiring about the scam.

In this connection, ACC has summoned former chairman of ILFS MA Hashem, directors – Nasim Anwar, Basudev Banarjee, Mohammad Abul Hashem, Nawsherul Islam, Anwarul Kabir, Rashedul Haque and Irfan Ahmed Khan for quizzing between August 23 and August 26.

Last week, he quizzed Uzzal, his wife Anita Kaur, Hal International directors Kazi Momrez Mahmud and Amitav.

Contacted, AKM Shaheed Reza told The Daily Star that the allegations against him are baseless. "I have taken out loans with valid papers and am repaying those," he said.

Asked how PK Halder's money landed at his accounts, he said, "I don't know from where they got these. It's baseless."

This correspondent failed to communicate with Irfan Ahmed Khan for comment.