AB Bank scam: HC adjourns hearing on 2 ex-officials’ bail

The High Court today adjourned till October 11 the hearing on a suo moto (voluntary) rule that questioned the legality of the bail granted to two former officials of AB Bank in connection with a money laundering case involving Tk 165 crore.

After concluding today’s proceedings, the special HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal fixed 2:00pm on October 11 for resuming the hearing on the rule.

On January 25 this year, a Dhaka court granted bail to M Wahidul Haque, former chairman of AB Bank, and Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, former head of financial institutions and treasury of the bank, few hours after they were produced before the court.

Later, on January 31, the HC bench led by Justice Enayetur Rahim issued a suo moto rule asking the government, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the bank’s two former officials to explain why the bail granted to them by the lower court should not be cancelled.

The bench also issued a travel ban on Wahidul and Abu Hena in connection with the money laundering charges.

On April 4, the HC bench sent the documents regarding the suo moto rule to the chief justice for constituting a special bench for settling this issue.

The ACC, on January 25, arrested Wahidul, Abu Hena and businessman Saiful Haque in connection with the case.

A magistrate’s court in Dhaka granted bail to Wahidul and Abu Hena, but sent Saiful on a three-day remand, ACC’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said.

Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan and Deputy Attorney General Bashir Ahmed argued for the ACC and government respectively while Advocate AM Aminuddin and Advocate Mohammad Arshadur Rouf appeared for Wahidul and Abu Hena.