21 former officials of AB Bank granted bail in money laundering cases

A Dhaka court today granted ad-interim bail to 21 former officials of AB Bank Ltd in three cases filed over laundering Tk 236 crore through offshore banking to UAE, USA and Singapore.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after the accused along with their lawyers surrendered before it seeking bail in the cases.

During today's hearing, defence told the court their clients were implicated in the cases as part of a conspiracy to harass them. So, they should be granted bail, said the defence.

The prosecution, however, opposed the petitions saying that the accused along with others laundered the money to UAE, USA and Singapore. So their bail petitions should be rejected, the prosecution added.

Upon hearing both the sides, the judge turned down the prosecution pleas and issued the bail order.

Their bail will remain valid till January 31, the next scheduled date of the cases.

Yesterday, all the twenty-one accused surrendered before the court seeking bail in the cases.

On November 26, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed three separate cases against 25 persons, including the former chairman, senior officials and nine directors of AB Bank Limited, on charges of laundering Tk 236 crore.

The accused are: former AB Bank Ltd chairman M Wahidul Haque, former managing director (MD) Shamim Ahmed Chowdhury, former deputy managing director (DMD) Sajjad Hossain, former operations manager of Khatunganj Branch M Lokman Hossain, former senior vice-president (SVP) of Chittagong EPZ Branch M Shahjahan, former principal officer M Arif Newaz, former AVP Panet Chakraborty, former SVP M Salahuddin, former VP Md Shahjahan, former EVP M Aminur Rahman, former EVP Sharfuddin Ahmed, business division's former AVP Kazi Ashiqur Rahman, former EVP Kazi Nasim Ahmed, former SEVP Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, former SEVP and member credit committee Salma Akhter, former EVP Shahabuddin Ahmed, and former directors MA Awal, Shishir Ranjan Bose, Feroz Ahmed, BB Saha Roy and Dr M Imtiaz Hossain.