Brother, nephew testify in graft case against former CJ Sinha

Brother and nephew of former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on Monday testified in a case against him and 10 others for allegedly embezzling Taka four crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.

Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha’s brother Narendra Kumar Sinha and nephew Shankhajit Sinha testified as prosecution witness (PW) number 15 and 16 and were cross-examined by the defence afterwards.

Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 after that adjourned the hearing till January 13. Sixteen prosecution witnesses out of the total 18 have so far testified in the case.

Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 on August 13 framed charges in the case.

Investigation Officer (IO) and ACC director Benjir Ahmed filed the charge-sheet in the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Imrul Qayes on December 10, 2019.

The court, however, on February 20, 2020, transferred the case to Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 for further proceedings.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on July 10, 2019, for embezzling Taka four crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.

The other accused are former Farmers Bank managing director AKM Shameem, first vice-presidents Swapan Kumar Roy and Shafiuddin Askaree, senior executive vice-president Gazi Salauddin, vice-president M Lutful Haque, bank’s entrepreneur director Md Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty, bank clients Md Shahjahan, Niranjan Chandra Saha, his uncle Ranajit Chandra Saha, and Ranajit’s wife Santree Roy.

According to the allegation, Md Shahjahan and Niranjan took the money on loan from then Farmers Bank, which was later transferred to Justice Sinha’s Sonali Bank account, showing it was earned from selling of his (Sinha’s) house.