Corruption case accused to be found out no matter where they hide: High Court
The court made the observation during a hearing of a bail plea in a case of embezzling TK22 crore from the Dhaka Bank
The High Court on Sunday said, the money embezzled from banks has to be recovered at any cost. The criminals' assets have to be sold to recover the money if needed.
Terming corruption a more heinous crime than murder, the High Court said, "Money in banks is the asset of public. The accused in corruption cases have to be found out no matter where they hide. They would not be spared."
The High Court made the comments during a hearing of a bail plea filed by Aminul Islam, vice-president and in-charge of Dhaka Bank's Dhanmondi Branch, in a case of embezzling TK22 crore from the bank by showing fabricated bills.
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A High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam dismissed a High Court rule that on July 16 asked for explanation why Aminul should not be granted bail.
Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik and Assistant Attorney General Helena Begum Chaina stood for the state during the hearing while Mohammad Ashraf Uddin Bhuiyan and Hossain Mohammad Islam stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission and the defendant respectively.
The court did not grant Aminul bail and dismissed the rule concerning his bail, said Amin Uddin.
On December 23, 2018, Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Md Iqbal Hossain filed a case with Dhanmondi police station against seven including Aminul.
According to case details, the accused submitted 26 export bills using false documents at the bank's Dhanmondi branch.
Later, they took more than Tk26 crore against 17 bills. They returned around Tk5.61 crore for three bills' full price and another one's partial price. They embezzled rest of the bills money amounting to more than Tk21.24 crore.
The six other accused in the case are – Chairman of Saimex Leather Products Ltd Talha Shariar Ayub, his wife and director of the company Tania Rahman, Dhaka Bank's Assistant Vice President Sultana Fahmida, owner of S & S Agency Bibhuti Bhushan Bala, owner of Jaman Enterprise Sheikh Asaduzzaman Mintu and owner of Sadat Enterprise Md Aminul Islam.
A magistrate court granted Shariar and his wife Tania bail on March 21. Later on December 9, Dhaka Special Judge Court cancelled their bail and ordered them to surrender after the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a revision appeal against the magistrate court's rule.
