Former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and eight others to different terms of jail sentence today in a case filed over Tk 4 crore money laundering.
Judge Shaikh Nazmul Alam of Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka passed the verdict — seven years for laundering money and four for breach of trust.
However, the court said the punishment will run concurrently.
Two accused were acquitted of the charges as allegation brought against them were not proven.
Among the accused, six are now on bail, while one is behind bars.
Four other accused, including SK Sinha, have been absconding since the graft case was filed.
During the closing arguments on September 14, the prosecution told the court that they were able to prove the charges against the accused and sought the highest punishment for them.
However, the defence sought acquittal of their clients, saying that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against the accused.
A total of 21 prosecution witnesses gave their deposition in the case before the court, said the state lawyer.
In October 2018, the Anti-Corruption Commission said it found evidence of fraud involving transactions of Tk 4 crore borrowed with fake documents by two businessmen — Shahjahan and Niranjan — from the Farmers Bank (,now Padma Bank). Later, the money was deposited in SK Sinha’s account.
On July 10 of 2019, ACC Director Syed Iqbal Hossain filed the graft case with its Integrated District Office-1 of Dhaka in this regard.
On December 8 that year, Investigation Officer Md Benjir Ahammad, also ACC Director, pressed charges against SK Sinha and 10 others in the case.
The court framed charges against them on August 13 last year.
Justice Sinha resigned on November 11, 2017, from abroad. He is now in the US.