A court in Dhaka on Tuesday sentenced former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha to 11-year imprisonment and eight others to different jail terms in a graft case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission started the case 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.
Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 delivered the judgement after it was deferred for two times — October 5 and 21.
In Bangladesh, this is the first ever corruption case filed against a former chief justice who subsequently has been convicted of money embezzlement and laundering charges.
Now reportedly in the USA, Surendra Kumar Sinha, also known as SK Sinha, along with three others was tried in absentia in the case.
He resigned from his post on November 11, 2017 from abroad.
The court jailed SK Sinha for seven years for laundering and four years for misappropriation of the amount, ACC panel lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told the media.
“Both the sentences will run concurrently,” he added.
Among the convicts, seven were handed down three years’ imprisonment while another got four years in jail.
The court also acquitted two other accused as allegations brought against them could not be proved.
During the trial, 20 prosecution witnesses testified before the court.
Earlier on September 14, the court set October 5 for pronouncing judgement as both prosecution and defence concluded their closing arguments in the case.
On October 5, the judgement schedule was deferred to October 21 which was again deferred until November 9.
ACC Director Syed Iqbal Hossain lodged the case with its Integrated District Office-1 in Dhaka in 2019.
Apart from Sinha, other accused were — 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 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.
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 that year.
According to the charges, Shahjahan and Niranjan took the money on loan from the then Farmers Bank, which was later transferred to Justice 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.
