Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has frozen bank accounts of former managing director of Reliance Finance and NRB Global Bank, Prashant Kumar Halder alias PK Halder and 82 other persons for their alleged involvement in money laundering and fund embazzlement.
BFIU made the move after being requested by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in this regard, sources confirmed The Business Post.
The investigating officer, ACC Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar Prodhan wrote to Bangladesh Bank requesting it to freeze all accounts of PK Halder and his associates.
ACC served notices to PK Halder and four others on August 10, 2019, asking them to appear before an ACC team for interrogation but he had already fled the country by then.
ACC imposed a travel ban on him on October 3, 2019.
ACC in its primary investigation found PK Halder guilty of laundering 3,600 crore taka while he was in charge of People's Leasing international, People's Leasing and Financial Services, FAS Finance and Investment Limited and Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company.
ACC has already filed a case against PK Halder for his alleged involvement of possessing 275 crore taka beyond legal income source and found there are as much as 1,665 crore taka worth dubious dealing in his bank account over the period of his tenure as head of the different financial institutions.
ACC primarily brought a number of allegations against PK Halder including abuse of power, corruption, dodging tax which helped him to earn a huge sum of money through illegal means.
As a part of the investigation, ACC requested BFIU to produce a report on his bank accounts and dealings.
Bangladesh Bank in a report sent to ACC said, there were some 1,600 crore taka in three different bank accounts of PK Halder. Of them, there were 1,200 crore taka and 240 crore taka to his personal accounts and 160 crore taka to his mother's account.
After laundering, there are only 10 crore take remain in those accounts.
PK Halder took 2,000 crore taka from People's Leasing International to buy shares from different financial institutions and later laundered the money.
ACC is scheduled to grill three officials of People's Leasing and Financial Services on graft allegations.
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