Bangladesh’s former Chief Justice SK Sinha sentenced to 11-year jail

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ZOOMBANGLA DESK: A court here today convicted and sentenced former Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar (SK) Sinha to 11-year imprisonment in a case filed for embezzling Taka four crore from the then Farmers Bank and laundering the money abroad.

Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 pronounced the judgement at the crowded courtroom around 1.10pm.

This is the first ever conviction of a former chief justice in Bangladesh.

Of the other accused, two — Md Shahjahan and Niranjan Chandra Saha were acquitted.

The rest of the accused — former Farmers Bank audit committee chairman Mahbubul Haque Chisty, former managing director AKM Shamim, first vice-president Swapan Kumar Ray, vice-president Md Lutful Haque, former senior executive vice-president Gazi Salahudin and first vice-president Shafiuddin Askary, Tangail residents Ranajit Chandra Saha and his wife Shanti Ray — were sentenced to different terms in jail.

The court on September 14 set October 5 for delivering the verdict after completing the closing arguments in the case.

On October 5, the court deferred delivering the verdict in the case to October 21, saying that the judge was sick. On October 21, the court rescheduled the date for the second time, fixing November 9 to deliver the verdict.

On July 10, 2019, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case, accusing SK Sinha and the 10 others of accumulating illegal wealth and laundering Tk 4 crore through Farmers Bank.

On September 25, 2019, the anti-graft body summoned five officials of Farmers Bank for interrogation over the deposit of Tk 4 crore in SK Sinha’s account with the Supreme Court branch of Sonali Bank.

On December 10, 2019, the investigation officer of the case filed the charge sheet against the 11 accused. On August 13, 2020, the court framed charges against them.

Justice SK Sinha, who resigned on November 11, 2017, from abroad, is now in North America.