Charges pressed against PK Halder, 5 others in India

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) submitted a charge-sheet against six people, including erstwhile NRB Global Bank’s former managing director Prashanta Kumar Halder alias PK Halder and two agencies, in a money laundering case.

The ED, the Indian’s financial intelligence agency, submitted the charge-sheet to a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Kolkata on Tuesday, according to Bangladeshi and Indian media reports.

The other charge-sheeted accused are PK Halder’s brother Pranesh Kumar Halder, Swapan Mistry alias Swapan Maitra, Uttam Mistry alias Uttam Maitra, Imam Hossain alias Imon Halder and Amana Sultana alias Sharmi.

ED lawyer Arijit Chakraborty told media that the ED submitted the charge-sheet against six persons, including PK Halder and two agencies, under the section 3 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The accused will be produced before the court on July 15 in connection with the case.

PK Halder, the mastermind of a Tk10, 000 crore banking scam in Bangladesh, fled the country in 2019. He was arrested by the ED along with five other Bangladeshis in Ashoknagar of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on May 14.

He had been staying in West Bengal impersonating himself as an Indian citizen named Shibshankar Halder after fraudulently obtaining various government identities like ration card from West Bengal, Indian voter ID card, Permanent Account Number and multi-purpose Aadhar card.

After their arrest, they were placed on remand by the Kolkata court in several phases following petitions of the ED in connection with the case.

The ED told the court that they found wealth worth Tk300 crore and 88 bank accounts of PK Halder and his associates in India. It also found seven luxurious flats and 40 properties in Malaysia.

A number of cases were also filed against PK Halder and his associates in Bangladesh by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh on charges of embezzling and laundering money.

Bangladesh is trying to bring PK Halder back to the country under the bilateral extradition treaty signed in 2016 with India.