Why SK Sur, Shah Alam not arrested :HC

Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Monday wanted to know as to why former central bank deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury and its incumbent executive director (ED) Shah Alam are not arrested yet for assisting PK Halder in embezzling and laundering huge amount of public money from four non-banking financial institutions.
If the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) does not take steps to arrest them, the court will be forced to issue an order in this regard, said the HC Bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim while hearing on a Suo Moto (voluntary move) ruling issued earlier.
At one stage of the hearing, the court wanted to know from the ACC lawyer as to what steps have been taken against the persons whose names came into the confessional statement given by two close associates of P K Halder including the duo.
The ACC has been asked to comply with the order on April 6 this year. Addressing the ACC, the HC observed, “If there is a complaint against someone, you cannot show hospitality to him. You must take him in custody.”
Complying with the court’s asking ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told the HC that the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has been examining the bank statements of SK Sur Chowdhury and Shah Alam.
After receiving reports from the BFIU, the ACC will take necessary steps against them.
The lawyer also said some of the persons whose name came into the confessional statement have been arrested in the meantime and some are absconding.
He told the court that there was no negligence in their part in informing the law enforcing agencies about the travel ban issued against the PK Halder.
Then the court asked the lawyer as to why the ACC didn’t make any phone call to the law enforcing agencies as the matter was urgent. “Some of you had lack of sincerity. What was the problem if you made a phone call to the immigration police,” added the court.
We want to find it out who was responsible for this negligence, also said the court.
Earlier on February 15 this year the same HC Bench wanted to know the immigration and passport department’s role when PK Halder had left the country.
The court also wanted to know the role of the concerned investigation officer of the ACC at that time.
ACC and Inspector general of police (IGP) have been asked to comply with the asking within March 15 this year.
In line with the order, the immigration police have submitted a list in the HC.
Meanwhile, during the hearing of the case, Bangladesh Bank has submitted a list of its officials who were in charge for overseeing financial institutions and money laundering matters from 2008 to 2020.
The court on January 21 this year sought the details including names, addresses and statuses of the officials of the BB’s three departments who were in charge for overseeing financial institutions and money laundering matters from 2008 to 2020.
After submitting the list Barrister Tanjib ul Alam, a counsel for the BB, said an internal process has been started to identify the responsible officer who were involved in the bankruptcy of the financial institutions of the country.
The court granted seven weeks time to the BB for submitting the names of the responsible officials who were involved with the financial scams.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan took part in the hearing on behalf of the ACC, while deputy attorney general AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state and Barrister Tanjib ul Alam and Barrister Khan Mohammad Shameem Aziz appeared for the BB.