Court defers verdict to October 21

A Dhaka court on Tuesday deferred pronouncement of its judgment in a corruption case filed against former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha and 10 others to October 21.

“The judge is ill, so the verdict in the case has been deferred. A fresh date on October 21 has been fixed to pronounce the verdict,” Mir Abdus Salam, prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Commission, confirmed The Business Post.

On September 14, Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam set October 5 for delivering the judgment as both prosecution and defence concluded their closing arguments in the case.

The ACC started the case against the former chief justice on July 10, 2019, on charges of embezzling Tk 4 crore from The Farmers Bank Limited, now renamed as Padma Bank, and laundering the money abroad.

This is the first ever corruption case filed against a former chief justice in Bangladesh.

Now reportedly in the US, Surendra Kumar Sinha, also known as SK Sinha, along with three others, was tried in absentia in the case.

Sinha resigned from his post on November 11, 2017 while staying abroad.

ACC Director Syed Iqbal Hossain lodged the case with its Integrated District Office-1 in Dhaka.

On December 10, 2019, the anti-graft watchdog’s director Benzir Ahmed, also the investigating officer of the case, submitted a charge sheet with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Emrul Kayesh against the accused.

Apart from SK Sinha, other accused are — former Farmers Bank audit committee chairman Md Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty, managing director AKM Shameem, senior executive vice-president Gazi Salauddin, first vice-presidents Swapan Kumar Roy and Shafiuddin Askaree, vice-president M Lutful Haque, the bank’s clients Md Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha and Niranjan’s uncle Ranajit Chandra Saha, and his wife Santri Roy.

Shafiuddin, Ranajit and Santri Roy were tried in their absence.

On February 20, 2020, the court transferred the case to Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 for further proceedings.

The special judge’s court framed charges in the case on August 13 last year.

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

The fund was withdrawn at different times from Sinha’s account.

The accused siphoned off the money from then Farmers Bank in collusion with each other in the name of loan, according to the charges.