High Court orders foreign travel ban on Banco Securities chairman
Upon a petition by the ACC, the judges also directed Abdul Muhit to submit his passport to the court
The High Court has barred Abdul Muhit, chairman of Banco Securities, from travelling abroad in a case of embezzlement of Tk66 crore filed by general investors.
At the same time, the division bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo on Monday asked the authorities to explain why his bail ought not to be cancelled.
Upon a petition by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the judges also directed Abdul Muhit to submit his passport to the court.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
At the hearing, Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin represented the state.
Following several complaints about anomalies by clients, a Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) team on 6 June 2021 found that the consolidated customer account of the brokerage firm had a Tk66.59 crore shortfall, which was a certain outcome of fund diversion and embezzlement of client money in most cases.
Brokerage firms have to maintain consolidated customer accounts. Any shortfall there indicates that clients' money has been diverted somewhere else, which is a financial crime.
Meanwhile, based on DSE's complaint, the ACC filed a case accusing the six directors of fund embezzlement.
The other directors accused in the case are Shafiul Azam, Waliul Hasan Chowdhury, Nurul Ishan Sadat, A Munim Chowdhury, and Jamil Ahmed Chowdhury.
Soon after, the bourse stopped the trading operations of Banco Securities and later offered its clients the opportunity to switch to other brokers.
Besides, the securities regulator has written to the authorities concerned, asking them not to allow the directors to leave Bangladesh.
Airport immigration police arrested Abdul Muhit. He was then sent to jail in an ACC case. However, he was later released on bail.
Rev: Moin
