Dhaka, Dec 4 – The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday approved a chargesheet against 11 people, including former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, in a case filed for reportedly misappropriating Tk 4 crore.The approval came at a meeting of the Commission on Wednesday, said ACC public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya. “The chargesheet will be submitted to a court soon.”
He, however, said the former chief justice was given clean chit in another graft case filed by former minister Barrister Nazmul Huda as it was proved to be a false one during investigation.
Pranab also said the Commission approved the filing of a regular case against Nazmul Huda for lodging a false case against SK Sinha.
The 10 other charge-sheeted accused in the case are Gazi Salahuddin, senior executive vice president and former head of credit division, Swapan Kumar Roy, first vice president (Credit division), Shafiuddin Askari Ahmed and Md Lutful Haque, first vice presidents of the Gulshan Corporate Branch of the Farmers Bank, M Mahbubul Haque Chisti, entrepreneur director and chairman of Audit Committee of the Farmers Bank, and Mohammad Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha, Santri Roy Simi and Ranjit Chandra Saha.
Besides, Md Zia Uddin Ahmed, senior vice president and former branch manager of Gulshan Corporate Branch of the Farmers Bank, was also relieved of charges as he died during the investigation.
On July 10 last, the ACC filed the case accusing the former chief justice and 10 others of accumulating illegal wealth and laundering Tk 4 crore.
On September 25 last year, the anti-graft body summoned five officials of the Farmers Bank Ltd for interrogation over the deposit of Tk 4 crore in SK Sinha’s account with the Supreme Court bank of Sonali Bank Ltd.
On May 6, 2018, the ACC interrogated two businessmen – Md Shahjahan and Niranjan Chandra Saha – for allegedly taking Tk 4 crore in loan from the Farmers Bank using fake documents and depositing the money in the bank account of a VVIP.
Barrister Nazmul Huda, a former BNP minister, filed another case against SK Sinha with Shahbagh Police Station on September 27, 2018 on charge of misuse of power and corruption.
SK Sinha went on leave on October 2, 2017 and left for Australia on October 13 amid a row over some of his observations in the 16th amendment verdict.
Just before his departure, he had told reporters that he was not sick, contradicting the government’s claim that he went on leave on health grounds.
A day after SK Sinha’s trip to Australia, the Supreme Court issued a statement, saying he was facing 11 charges, including graft, moral turpitude and money laundering.
On November 11, 2017, he resigned from his post of chief justice. – UNB
