Farmers Bank scam: Rashedul Haque Chisty gets bail from all cases

Rashedul Haque Chisty, son of the former chairman of Farmers Bank audit committee Mahbubul Haque Chisty, today got bail through hearings in two virtual courts in Dhaka, in connection with two money laundering cases.

Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sarafuzzaman Ansary passed the order after Rashedul's lawyer Shahinur Islam submitted a petition through email seeking bail for his client, in a case filed over the laundering of Tk 58 crore.

Besides, Judge Al Asad Md Ashifuzzaman of the special judge court six of Dhaka granted him bail in the case filed over the laundering of Tk 160 crore.

Now, there is no legal bar for the accused to walk out of the jail, an official of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) confirmed to The Daily Star.

Mosharraf Hossain Kajol,  ACC public prosecutor, told The Daily Star that they would challenge the bail order with the high court as the judge of the special judge court six granted bail to the accused even though the HC had earlier rejected his bail petition.

Moreover, other judges of the special judge court six have denied him bail several times, he said.

The ACC prosecutor said he appealed to the court today to adjourn the hearing as he was not in a position to take part in it, but the court rejected his plea and granted bail to the accused.

During today's hearing, defence lawyer Shahinur said his client's name was not included in the first information report (FIR).

But he was shown arrested in the case on May 13 last year on grounds that his father Mahbubul Haque Chisty misappropriated a large amount of money from the bank while he was holding the post of chairman of the audit committee. So he (Rashedul) was allegedly involved with the misappropriation.                          

On the other hand, ACC Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol opposed saying that the charges brought against Rashedul were true and he prayed for rejecting his bail petition.                                    

Earlier on Monday, Rashedul got bail in two other graft cases from the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Emrul Kayesh.

Earlier on April 29 of last year, ACC Assistant Director Md Sirajul Haque filed the case with Gulshan Police Station against Mahbubul Haque Chisty and six others for the misappropriation of Tk 58 crore.                                              

According to the prosecution, it was alleged that Mahbubul Haque Chisty, in connivance with others, took Tk 58 crore from Farmers Bank Limited as a loan, by abusing power and violating rules of the bank and misappropriated the money through transferring to different accounts.

The money now stands at Tk 69.58 crore with interest.                                  

The incident took place between the period of June 26 of 2014 and September 19 of 2018.                                                On April 10 of 2018, Chisty and his son Rashedul were arrested in connection with a Tk 160-crore laundering case.