Justice sinha’s wealth: His nephew, brother testify

Former chief justice SK Sinha, who is convicted in a corruption case, used his elder brother and a nephew to cover up his ill-gotten wealth.

His elder brother Narendra Kumar Sinha, nephew Shankhajit Singha and neighbour Sujan Kumar Singha yesterday described how they were made "scapegoats" while giving statements under Section 164 in a case filed against Justice Sinha for amassing over Tk 7 crore illegally.

On October 7 last year, Gulshan Anowar Prodhan, deputy director of Anti-Corruption Commission, lodged the case.

"They have given important statements that will help us prove the case."

Dhaka Metropolitan magistrates Mamunur Rashid, Mohammad Jashim and Mehedi Hasan recorded their statements.

The Daily Star has obtained the copies.

According to the case statement, Justice Sinha spent the money to construct a nine-storey building in the capital's Uttara on a plot registered in his brother's name.

In his testimony, Narendra, who retired as the chief light keeper at the Mercantile Marine Department in 2005, said he got Tk 16,000 as monthly salary before retirement and did not have any other source of income.

He said his brother asked him to sign some papers. Later, he came to know that his brother took allotment of a Rajuk plot in his name in Purbachal, Narendra added.

This allotment was later cancelled, and Justice Sinha took allotment of a plot in Uttara and bore all the expenditures, he added.

Narendra, who lives in Chattogram, mentioned that upon his brother's instructions, he handed over the power of attorney of the Uttara plot to nephew Shankhajit.

He added that after that, his brother took a Tk 1.2 crore loan from Shahjalal Islami Bank's Uttara branch in the names of Narendra and Shankhajit without their knowledge.

Justice Sinha also included the plot, building and related expenditure in Narendra's tax file.

"I don't know what [income] source he [Justice Sinha] had shown in the tax file," Narendra said, adding that he has been unemployed since his retirement.

"I did not have any source of income, except my small salary, while in service. My brother paid Tk 75 lakh for the plot in Uttara and spent money for constructing the building. I don't have any interest in the house and it is shown in the tax file beyond my knowledge," said Narendra.

"It [house] is actually owned by my brother Surendra Kumar Sinha. He felt uncomfortable to register the building in his name as he was the chief justice."

While testifying before the court, Shankhajit said Justice Sinha had asked him to take the power of attorney of the plot from Narendra.

He added that in March 2018, Justice Sinha's wife Sushama Sinha told Shankhajit that there was about Tk 78 lakh in her loan account, which she wanted to transfer to his account. "Before I knew anything, the money was transferred to my salary account at Dhaka Bank's EPZ branch."

In his testimony, Justice Sinha's neighbour Sujan, who looked after the construction of the building in Uttara, said he came to know that the former chief justice spent about Tk 7 crore for construction of the building.

On November 9 last year, the former chief justice was sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering and obtaining a loan of Tk 4 crore illegally in another graft case.

Justice Sinha, who is believed to be in the US, resigned on November 10, 2017, from abroad.