A Dhaka court on Sunday sentenced former director of International Leasing and Finance Service Ltd (ILFSL) PK Halder to 22 years of jail in a case filed in connection with amassing wealth illegally and money laundering.
Dhaka Special Judge Court-10 Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam announced the verdict.
He was jailed for 10 years for illegally amassing money and 12 years for laundering money.
While announcing the verdict, Judge Mohammad Nazrul Islam said that PK Halder will serve the jail sentences separately.
His punishment will be effective from the day of his extradition from India.
Besides, the court fined him Tk333 crore.
Thirteen others were jailed for seven years in the case.
Of the total jail sentence, three and four years of imprisonments have been given for assisting PK Halder in amassing and laundering money respectively. Their jail sentences will run concurrently.
They 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.
Of them, Sukumar Mridha, Anindita Mridha, Avantika Baral and Shankh Bepari are now behind bars.
Earlier on October 4, the court fixed the date upon ending arguments from the both Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the defendants.
On 8 January, 2020, ACC Deputy Director Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury filed a case against PK Halder on charges of amassing wealth illegally and money laundering worth Tk275 crore.
On September 8 last year, the same court framed charges against PK Halder and 13 others in the case.
Halder, along with five others, were detained in Ashoknagar of the Indian State of West Bengal in the morning of May 14, 2022.
According to the case, PK Halder and his other associates have embezzled thousands of crores of Bangladeshi Taka and siphoned off to India and other countries.
On March 1, 2021, PK Halder fled Bangladesh through Jessore's Benapole land port.
The ACC filed five cases against 33 people, including Halder, for allegedly laundering over Tk350 crore of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited (ILFSL) in January, 2021.
He had laundered about Tk80 crore to Canada and amassed about Tk426 crore beyond his known sources of income, the case documents said.
He is currently in an Indian jail.