bdnews24.com :
The High Court has barred former AB Bank chairman M Wahidul Haque and ex-official Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal and issued a rule asking why their bails will not be scrapped.
The Anti-Corruption Commission arrested them along with businessman Saiful Haque on Jan 25 for their suspected involvement in laundering Tk 1.65 million.
They were produced before a Dhaka court the same day, when the court granted bail for the former bank officials.
The suo-moto order by Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim of the High Court came on Wednesday.
The judges also ordered the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court to forward the case documents.
ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan told the media that the court issued the rule after taking into account the media reports over their arrest and bail.
The court has scheduled Feb 14 for the next hearing.
On Jan 25, the ACC filed a case against eight people over the AB Bank money-laundering scam, after it quizzed 16 people, including the three arrested on the same day and two former managing directors and six current directors.
The five others are former managing directors of the bank Md Fazlur Rahman and Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, Head of Offshore Banking Unit Mohammad Lokman, Head of Corporate and Structured Finance Division Mahfuz-Ul-Islam and Senior Vice-President Md Nurul Azim.
According to the graft-busters, a total of Tk 1.65 billion is believed to have been laundered in the name of investment abroad through Pinnacle Global Fund or PGF, a firm based in the UAE, between October 2013 and June 2014, when Wahidul was the chairman of AB Bank.
The officials involved in the investigation said a decision to raise a $100 million fund-$20 million of AB Bank and $80 million of PGF-and invest it in Dubai was made in 2013.
In February 2014, AB Bank transferred $20 million from one of its offshore units to an account of a bank in Abu Dhabi without the Bangladesh Bank’s permission.
The money was later embezzled, and businessman Saiful and one of his friends, UAE citizen Khurram Abdullah, played a role in the so-called investment and embezzlement of the money, said investigators.
The case dossier referred to a Bangladesh Bank report according to which Saiful became close to Khurram and one Abdus Samad Khan, both members of a fraud ring, when the businessman was in Dubai.
Saiful, who had known Wahidul earlier, introduced the fraud ring to the former AB Bank chairman and they had several meetings in Dubai and Bangladesh, according to the ACC.
The ACC also alleged Wahidul and Abu Hena made a private trip to Dubai to hold meetings with the ring of fraud without informing the bank’s board of directors and created the PGF.
Later, Abu Hena and Shamim placed an imaginary proposal to the board on investing the money in Dubai and had it passed in collusion in 2013, the case said.
Nurul Azim, an official at the AB Bank’s treasury branch, ordered Lokman to transfer the $20 million from the bank’s Chittagong EPZ branch to Dubai without any scrutiny on orders from Wahidul and Abu Hena, the ACC said in the case.
The money was transferred to a bank account of Cheng Bao General Trading LLC in Dubai and later embezzled, the anti-graft body alleged.
The High Court has barred former AB Bank chairman M Wahidul Haque and ex-official Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal and issued a rule asking why their bails will not be scrapped.
The Anti-Corruption Commission arrested them along with businessman Saiful Haque on Jan 25 for their suspected involvement in laundering Tk 1.65 million.
They were produced before a Dhaka court the same day, when the court granted bail for the former bank officials.
The suo-moto order by Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim of the High Court came on Wednesday.
The judges also ordered the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court to forward the case documents.
ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan told the media that the court issued the rule after taking into account the media reports over their arrest and bail.
The court has scheduled Feb 14 for the next hearing.
On Jan 25, the ACC filed a case against eight people over the AB Bank money-laundering scam, after it quizzed 16 people, including the three arrested on the same day and two former managing directors and six current directors.
The five others are former managing directors of the bank Md Fazlur Rahman and Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, Head of Offshore Banking Unit Mohammad Lokman, Head of Corporate and Structured Finance Division Mahfuz-Ul-Islam and Senior Vice-President Md Nurul Azim.
According to the graft-busters, a total of Tk 1.65 billion is believed to have been laundered in the name of investment abroad through Pinnacle Global Fund or PGF, a firm based in the UAE, between October 2013 and June 2014, when Wahidul was the chairman of AB Bank.
The officials involved in the investigation said a decision to raise a $100 million fund-$20 million of AB Bank and $80 million of PGF-and invest it in Dubai was made in 2013.
In February 2014, AB Bank transferred $20 million from one of its offshore units to an account of a bank in Abu Dhabi without the Bangladesh Bank’s permission.
The money was later embezzled, and businessman Saiful and one of his friends, UAE citizen Khurram Abdullah, played a role in the so-called investment and embezzlement of the money, said investigators.
The case dossier referred to a Bangladesh Bank report according to which Saiful became close to Khurram and one Abdus Samad Khan, both members of a fraud ring, when the businessman was in Dubai.
Saiful, who had known Wahidul earlier, introduced the fraud ring to the former AB Bank chairman and they had several meetings in Dubai and Bangladesh, according to the ACC.
The ACC also alleged Wahidul and Abu Hena made a private trip to Dubai to hold meetings with the ring of fraud without informing the bank’s board of directors and created the PGF.
Later, Abu Hena and Shamim placed an imaginary proposal to the board on investing the money in Dubai and had it passed in collusion in 2013, the case said.
Nurul Azim, an official at the AB Bank’s treasury branch, ordered Lokman to transfer the $20 million from the bank’s Chittagong EPZ branch to Dubai without any scrutiny on orders from Wahidul and Abu Hena, the ACC said in the case.
The money was transferred to a bank account of Cheng Bao General Trading LLC in Dubai and later embezzled, the anti-graft body alleged.
