Amassing tk 426cr: Court indicts PK Halder

A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against disgraced banker Proshanta Kumar Halder, better known as PK Halder, in a case filed over laundering Tk 80 crore and illegally amassing about Tk 426 crore.

The court fixed September 22 to begin the trial and issued arrest warrants against him and nine other absconding accused.

Halder's lawyer Sukumar Mridha, daughter Anindita Mridha, associate Abantika Baral and cousin Shankha Bepari pleaded innocent after Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam read out the charges to them.

The judge of Special Judge's Court-10 rejected petitions to dismiss the charges against the four accused and scrapped Sukumar and Anindita's appeal for bail.

Halder is facing at least 20 lawsuits and this is the only case in which charges have been framed, said Mir Ahmed Ali Salam, the lawyer for the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The nine other absconding accused in the case are Halder's mother Lilabati Halder and brother Pritish Kumar Halder; and associates Purnima Rani Halder, Amitav Adhikari, Rajib Som, Subrata Das, Ananga Mohon Roy, Uttam Kumar Mistri and Swapan Kumar Mistri.

Among the arrestees, Sukumar, Shankha and Anindita made confessional statements earlier.

Halder was arrested in Ashoknagar, India on May 14 on charges of money laundering.

On October 22, 2019, the ACC issued a travel ban on Halder, but officials suspected that he had fled the country through the Benapole land port.