Sisters, who were PK Halder’s associates, arrested while trying to flee Bangladesh

Rapid Action Battalion have arrested two associates of former NRB Global Bank Managing Director (MD) PK Halder, as they were attempting to flee the country.

They are: Sharmin Ahmed (47) and her sister Tania Ahmed (37). Both are daughters of Khabir Uddin Ahmed, a director of Peoples Leasing and Financial Service.

Khabir Uddin and his family members took loan of over Tk 200 crore from the financial institute, Rab said.  

The sisters, who had been staying in Canada since 2003, took loan of Tk 66 crore but never paid back, Khandaker Al Moin, Rab's Legal and Media wing director, told a press briefing at Rab media centre today.

They arrived in the country on July 28 to attend a family programme and were preparing to leave the country today. Based on a tip-off, Rab personnel arrested them, Moin said.

The sisters had their luggage sent to Dhaka airport in an ambulance. They planned to reach the airport in an ambulance too, the Rab official said.

Replying to a query, the Rab director said Khabir Uddin was arrested earlier. He is unwell and is on bail. The two sisters were last summoned by the court in April 2022.   

Proshanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder came to the limelight during the anti-casino drives in the country in 2019.

He and his accomplices embezzled several thousand crore taka from four financial institutions – Peoples Leasing and Financial Service, International Leasing and Financial Service Limited, FAS Finance, and Reliance Finance – between 2009 and 2019.

The Interpol had in January last year issued a maximum alert against Halder on the basis of a complaint by the Bangladesh government.

PK Halder was arrested in Ashoknagar of India's West Bengal on May 14 this year.