Graft case: Arrest warrant against ex-CJ Sinha

A Dhaka court today accepted the charges against former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others for misappropriating and laundering about Tk 4 crore of Farmers Bank in 2016.

After accepting the charges, Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judges’ Court of Dhaka issued arrest warrants against all the accused as they have been shown fugitives in the charge sheet.

The court directed police to submit by January 22nd the reports on execution of arrest warrants.

On December 10, the Anti-Corruption Commission pressed charges against the 11 in this regard.

The other accused are: the bank’s former MD AKM Shamim, Senior Executive Vice-President and former head of Credit Division Gazi Salahuddin, First Vice-President of Credit Division Swapan Kumar Roy, First Vice-President Shafiuddin Askary, former chairman of the bank’s audit committee Mahbubul Haque Chisty and Vice-President Lutful Haque.

One Shahjahan of Tangail’s Sreehoripur village, Ranjit Chandra Saha of the district’s Jodunathpur village, his wife Santri Roy and nephew Niranjan Chandra Saha have also been accused.

Farmers Bank was later renamed Padma Bank.

The ACC in October last year said it found evidence of fraud involving transactions of Tk 4 crore borrowed with fake documents by two businessmen, Shahjahan and Niranjan, from the bank. It said the money was deposited in Justice Sinha’s account.

Justice Sinha resigned on November 11, 2017, from abroad. He is now in the US.