Shawdesh Desk:

Dhaka special judge’s court-10 on Sunday sentenced former director of International Leasing and Finance Service Ltd Proshanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, to 22 years imprisonment in a case filed over amassing wealth illegally and money laundering.

Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam handed down the verdict in the case filed by Anti-corruption commission.

ACC public prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam said the court awarded PK Halder to 10 years imprisonment for illegal wealth and 12 years jail for money laundering.

The court also awarded seven years imprisonment to 13 others accused in the graft case.

The convicts are — Sukumar Mridha, Anindita Mridha, Avantika Baral, Shankh Bepari, PK Halder’s mother Lilavati Halder, Purnima Rani Halder, Uttam Kumar Mistri, Amitabh Adhikari, Pritish Kumar Halder, Rajib Som, Subrata Das, Anang Mohan Roy and Swapan Kumar Mistri.

This is first verdict against PK Halder who is also facing dozens of other cases.

A total of 99 prosecution witnesses, out of 106, testified before the court in the case.

On January 8, 2020, ACC deputy director Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury, filed the case with its Integrated District Office in Dhaka, against PK Haldar and others.

According to the case statement, PK Halder has acquired wealth worth Tk 275 crore beyond known sources of income through illegal activities and kept those in his possession.

According to the charge sheet, the anti-graft watchdog accused Halder of laundering CAD 1.17 crore to Canada through illegal means.

The court framed charges against the accused on September 8, 2021.

India’s federal economic offences police arrested PK Halder and his two associates from the eastern state of West Bengal. He is now in an Indian jail.