Arrest Warrants Issued Against PK Halder and 11 Others

A court has accepted the charge sheet against 18 people, including former Reliance Finance Limited Managing Director Prashanta Kumar (PK) Halder, in a corruption case.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md. Shahjahan Kabir accepted the charge sheet on Thursday. The court also issued arrest warrants against 12 accused, including fugitive PK Halder.

The court set Sept. 1 for the submission of a report in the case.

Riaz Hossain, bench assistant of the concerned court, confirmed the information.

Besides PK Halder, the other accused named in the charge sheet are Md. Nurul Alam, Nasim Anwar, Md. Nuruzzaman, Mohammad Abul Hashem, M.A. Hashem, Zahirul Alam, Md. Nowsherul Islam, Rashedul Haque, Al Mamun Sohag, Rafiqul Islam Khan, Marzina Begum, Shank Beparee, Basudeb Banerjee, Papiya Banerjee, Nahida Runai, Rafsan Riad Chowdhury and Syed Abed Hasan.

Among the accused, Shank Beparee, Basudeb Banerjee, Papiya Banerjee, Nahida Runai, Rafsan Riad Chowdhury and Syed Abed Hasan are currently in jail.

According to the case statement, the accused, in collusion with one another, prepared records in the name of a shell company, ‘Moon Enterprise,’ by abusing their authority through fraud and forgery. Using those documents as genuine, they enabled the owner of the shell company to obtain a loan and, with the direct assistance of officials and board members of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited, prepared fraudulent loan documents worth Tk 838.4 million.

They later withdrew and embezzled Tk 838.4 million by using the documents as genuine. Through layering across various accounts, the money was transferred and converted into the accounts of different companies and individuals and subsequently laundered.

On Jan. 25, 2021, Anti-Corruption Commission Assistant Director Afnan Jannat Keya filed the case, naming 18 people as accused.

After completing the investigation, Afnan Jannat Keya submitted the charge sheet against the accused on April 20.