The Supreme Court observed today that Mahbubul Haque Chisty, former chairman of Farmers Bank audit committee, used his entire family in "criminal activities of money laundering".

It is found from the case documents that Chishty, his wife Rozi Chishty and their son Rashedul Haque Chishty and daughter Rimi Chishty are involved in laundering Tk 138 crore, which they took from Farmers Bank in the name of Bakshiganj Jute Spinner, said Justice Muhammad Imman Ali, a judge of the Appellate Division of the SC, while hearing two petitions regarding the issue.

Justice Muhammad Imman Ali is a senior member of a full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain which was hearing a leave to appeal petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission challenging a High Court verdict that granted bail to Rashedul Haque Chishty in the case.

The apex court was also hearing another petition filed by Rashedul seeking bail in the case.

The Appellate Division adjourned hearing of both the petitions till June 1 and asked Rashedul's lawyer AF Hasan Ariff to submit -- by this time before it -- documents in their favour.

Earlier in the day, lawyer AF Hasan Ariff told the court that the money was received as foreign remittance to the Bakshiganj Jute Spinner.

The only allegation against his client Rashedul is of transferring three bank accounts from Dhaka's Gulshan Branch to Bakshiganj Branch in Mymensingh involving Tk 55 lakh, he said.

The ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan opposed the bail petition of Rashedul, saying that the accused have not refunded not even one Taka to the state.

The trial court has recorded statements from 11 out of 20 witnesses in the case, and the trial proceedings are expected to be over in a few months, he said.

Contacted, lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the Farmers Bank's name has been changed to Padma Bank since the scams.

Mahbubul Haque Chishty and Rashedul Haque Chishty are now in jail while Rozi Chishty and Rimi Chishty are on bail in the cases filed against them for misappropriation of money from the bank, he said.

The ACC filed the case with Gulshan Police Station in April 2018 against Rashedul, his father Mahbubul Haque Chisty, Rozi Chishty, Rimi Chishty, and few others on charges of laundering Tk 159 crore.

On January 26, the HC upheld a lower court order that granted bail to Rashedul Haque Chisty in the money laundering case.