Proshanta Kumar Halder

Only the observance of the International Anti-Corruption Day will not be enough to fight graft, the High Court said yesterday.

Zero tolerance must be effectively enforced to prevent corruption and irregularities in the country, the court said.

The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Ahmed Sohel came up with the observation while virtually hearing a suomuto rule issued by it questioning the inaction of the authorities concerned in arresting Proshanta Kumar Halder, also known as PK Halder, and bringing him back to the country.

The bench ordered the Anti-Corruption Commission to submit the progress report of the investigation into the money laundering case against PK Halder and the steps taken for arresting him and bringing him back by January 3 next year.

PK Halder is the former managing director of NRB Global Bank and Reliance Finance.

The court also allowed Uzzal Kumar Nandi, a former colleague of PK Halder, and Halder's cousin Amitabh Adhikary to submit their statements before this court by January 3 in connection with the allegations against them of assisting PK Halder in embezzling a huge amount of public money.

The HC bench gave permission to Uzzal and Amitabh to submit their statements as they filed two separate applications through their lawyers with the court seeking permission to become a party in the case to place their statements.

The court said investigation in the corruption case against PK Halder will not be hampered after the two were made party in the suomuto rule.

It also fixed 12:00pm on January 3 for holding further hearing and passing an order on this issue.

During yesterday's hearing, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told the HC bench that the Senior Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka on November 25 issued an arrest warrant for PK Halder following an application from the ACC and that the court sent the order of arrest warrant to the Interpol through the home ministry to arrest him.

The lawyer added that the authorities concerned confiscated 53 bank accounts and unmovable properties worth Tk 43 crore of PK Halder.

Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik, who represented the state, vigorously opposed the applications from Uzzal and Amitabh, saying that they submitted the applications with a view to hampering the probe and saving PK Halder.

Lawyers Mosharraf Hossain and Shah Monjurul Hoque appeared for the two respectively.

Issuing the suomuto rule, the HC bench on November 18 wanted to know what steps have been taken to arrest PK Halder, who fled the country after allegedly siphoning around Tk 10,200 crore from some non-banking financial institutions, and to bring him back to the country.

The court ordered the authorities concerned of the government and the ACC to explain the steps taken to arrest and bring PK Halder back home.

In the rule, the court also asked the authorities to show causes as to why their inaction and failure in arresting and bringing PK Halder back home should not be declared illegal.

On October 21 this year, another HC bench directed the law enforcement authorities to arrest PK Halder immediately after his return home.

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

In an investigation, the central 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, according to BB officials.

PK Halder came to the limelight during the anti-casino drives last year.

The ACC opened investigation into the involvement of 43 people, including PK Halder, in the illegal casino business.

The government issued a travel ban on him on October 3 last year. But he managed to flee the country.

On January 8 this year, the anti-graft body filed a case against PK Halder on charges of illegally amassing wealth worth Tk 275 crore.