Prosecution witnesses’ testimony ends in graft case against ex-CJ Sinha

Recording testimony of prosecution witnesses (PW) ended on Tuesday in a case against former Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others for allegedly embezzling Tk 40 million (4 crore) from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad, reports BSS.

Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 after that adjourned the hearing till 29 August. The defence is scheduled to produce witnesses on that day.

On Tuesday, the defence concluded cross-examining of the investigation officer (IO) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director Benjir Ahmed. The IO had submitted his testimony on 1 April.

A total of 21 prosecution witnesses testified in the case. Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 on 13 August 2020 framed charges in the case.

ACC director Benjir Ahmed had filed the charge-sheet in the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Qayes on 10 December 2019.

The court, however, on 20 February 2020, transferred the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 for further proceedings. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on 10 July 2019 for embezzling Tk 4 million (4 crore) from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.

The other accused are former Farmers Bank managing director AKM Shameem, first vice-presidents Swapan Kumar Roy and Shafiuddin Askaree, senior executive vice-president Gazi Salauddin, vice-presidents M Lutful Haque, Md Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty, bank clients Md Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha, his uncle Ranajit Chandra Saha, and Ranajit's wife Santi Roy.

According to the allegation, Md Shahjahan and Niranjan took the money on loan from the then Farmers Bank, which was later transferred to Justice Sinha's Sonali Bank account, showing it was earned from selling of his (Sinha's) house.