ED likely to extradite PK Halder

The Indian Directorate of Enforcement is trying to send back the Bangladeshi national and former director of NRB Global Bank Prashant Kumar alias PK Halder and his five associates to Bangladesh by March next year.

A lawyer of ED on Thursday told Indian media that they are trying to send PK Halder and others back to Bangladesh under the bilateral extradition treaty.

Meanwhile, a special court in Kolkata that deals with money laundering cases on Thursday extended the judicial custody of PK Halder and five of his associates till November 17.

Earlier in the day, PK Halder and his associates were produced before the court on the expiry of their previous jail remand in the case.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court on Thursday began the trial of a corruption case against Prashanta Kumar Halder (PK Halder), disgraced director of International Leasing and Finance Service Ltd (ILFSL), and 13 others began.

Dhaka Special Judge Court-10 judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam recorded testimony of Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury, an Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the plaintiff of the case. The court has fixed October 13 for the cross-examination of Mamunur’s statement.

On September 8, the court framed charges against the accused.

The ED officials said they are seeking speedy disposal of the case and no supplementary charge sheet will be submitted against him. After the hearing and judgment of the case, efforts will be made to send PK Halder and others to Bangladesh.

The ED is trying to complete the case soon. If PK Halder and his associates get punished by the Indian court in the case, then they will serve part of the sentence in India. Then an attempt will be made to hand them over to Bangladesh and they will be served the rest of the sentence in Bangladesh.

On July 14, the ED submitted a charge-sheet against six people, including PK Halder and two agencies to a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Kolkata in a money laundering case.

PK Halder, the mastermind of a Tk 10,000 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 on May 14.

The other five 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.

PK Halder 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 lawyers 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.