The High Court yesterday summoned 280 loan defaulters of People's Leasing and Financial Services (PLFS) to appear before it on February 23 to give their explanations on defaulting the loans and repayment.

The company bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar came up with the order after going through a list, submitted by the non-banking financial institution, of the loan defaulters.

Speaking to The Daily Star, PLFS's lawyer Mejbahur Rahman said the process of liquidation of the company was underway.

In this situation, the HC's company bench had sought the list of the loan defaulters and accordingly, the list was submitted to the bench.

The 280 individuals took loans amounting Tk 1,655 crore. The loan amounts ranged from Tk 5 lakh to over Tk 200 crore, said Mejbahur.

After examining the list, the HC bench yesterday issued show cause notices on the 280 loan defaulters and summoned them to appear before it on February 23, he added.

Meanwhile, another HC bench yesterday sought details, including names, addresses and status of the Bangladesh Bank officials who were in charge of overseeing financial institutions and money laundering issues from 2008 to 2020.

The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order after holding hearing on a suo moto (voluntary) rule issued in this regard.

The court also asked the central bank governor and other officials concerned to inquire if the then officials were responsible for the bankruptcy of the country's certain financial institutions and to submit reports to it on February 15.

The bench rejected a petition, filed by Md Asaduzzaman Khan, provisional liquidator of the PLFS and also the deputy general manager of the central bank, to become a party in the case.

Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission, while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state and lawyer Khan Mohammad Shameem Aziz appeared for the central bank.

Issuing the suo moto rule, the HC bench on November 19 last year wanted to know from the respondents what steps were taken to bring home Proshanta Kumar Halder, known as PK Halder, from abroad in connection with a money laundering case.

LAWYER, DAUGHTER PLACED ON REMAND

In another development, the Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka yesterday placed a lawyer and his daughter on three-day remand each in a graft case filed against PK Halder, also former NRB Global Bank managing director.

Judge KM Emrul Kayesh placed Sukumar Mridha and his daughter Anindita Miridha on remand a few hours after thee were arrested.

ACC Deputy Director Salah Uddin, also the investigation officer of the case, quizzed the duo for about three hours.

According to ACC sources, the two helped Halder amass illegal wealth.

On January 8 last year, the graft watchdog had filed the case against Halder over possessing about Tk 275 crore beyond his known sources of income.

Talking to journalists yesterday, Sukumar claimed that he was not involved in any misappropriation. "He [PK Halder] is only my client," he said.