A Dhaka court yesterday ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission to confiscate 59 acres of land and three flats of Proshanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, in a money laundering case.

Meanwhile, another Dhaka court ordered the CID to seize 5,706 bighas of land, 55 vehicles, and freeze the bank accounts of two brothers in a money laundering case.

The pieces of land belonging to PK Halder are in Purbachal, Rupganj in Narayanganj, Bagerhat, Nazirpur and Pirojpur and the flats are in the capital's Uttara, Baridhara and Banani, ACC Public Prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir told The Daily Star.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka passed the order after ACC Deputy Director Mohammad Salahuddin, also the investigation officer of the case, had submitted an application to it.

On December 29 last year, the same court had ordered the graft watchdog to confiscate two flats and six acres of land of PK Halder, former managing director of NRB Global Bank and Reliance Finance, in a money laundering case.

The flats are in the capital's Dhanmondi area and the properties are in Rupganj of Narayanganj.

On January 8 last year, the ACC filed a case against Halder on charges of illegally amassing wealth worth Tk 275 crore and laundering money.

According to Canadian media reports, Halder is now staying in Toronto. He is director of P&L Hal Holding Inc, a Canadian corporation.

In an investigation, Bangladesh Bank found that Tk 1,596 crore was transferred from International Leasing and Financial Services (ILFSL) in violation of the rules through 48 accounts of various organisations related to the directors and shareholders of the firm.

Halder came to the limelight during the anti-casino drives in the country in 2019. The ACC opened investigation into the alleged involvement of 43 people, including Halder, in the illegal casino business.

The government imposed a travel ban on him on October 3, 2019. But he managed to flee the country.

TWO BROTHERS

A court yesterday ordered Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police to confiscate the land and vehicles of Sajjad Hossain Barkat, former general secretary of Faridpur town unit Awami League and his brother Imtiaz Hasan Rubel, former president of Faridpur Press Club.

They are accused of laundering Tk 2,000 crore.

The court also ordered their 188 bank accounts to be frozen.

The properties are in Faridpur and the accounts are with banks in Dhaka and Faridpur, court sources said.

The CID has so far arrested 14 accused, including Barkat and Rubel.

According to a case filed by the CID on June 26, the brothers amassed wealth by manipulating tender processes for government work since 2010. They were allegedly involved in drug smuggling and land grabbing.