Bangladesh’s former chief justice found guilty of money laundering

 

Bangladesh’s former Chief Justice SK Sinha has been sentenced to imprisonment for 11 years in a graft case.

A top court in Dhaka has found him guilty of money laundering and breach of trust in the 467,000 taken from the Farmers Bank.

In its verdict, the court acquitted Md Shahjahan and Niranjan Chandra Sha due to lack of evidence.

The Farmers Bank was formerly known as the Padma Bank.

Its previous manager AKM Shamim has also been jailed for four years and has been fined almost $600.

Ranjit Chandra Saha and his wife Shanti Roy; who were accomplices of the former chief justice have also been sentenced to a punishment of three years in prison along with $120.

The accused had forged documents from the Gulshan branch of the then Farmers Bank and transferred it to Justice Sinha’s personal account through pay-order.

Sinha transferred the amount to another account in cash, cheques, and pay-orders later on.

In 2018, the anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) found evidence of fraud in the transactions under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Earlier, another case was against the former top judge by the ACC; which accused him of abuse of office involving land plots allotted to him and a member of his family from Dhaka city development authority.

Sinha was appointed the chief justice of Bangladesh in 2015. His term ended three years later, in 2018.