Surendra Kumar Sinha, Bangladesh’s former chief justice and the first Hindu to hold the position, has been charged by anti-graft commission for laundering about USD 475,000, nearly two years after he left the country saying he was forced to resign, according to a media report.

On October 2, 2017, the law minister said the then chief justice would go on a month’s leave from October 3 on health grounds. However, while leaving the country for Australia on October 13 the same year, Justice Sinha said he was not sick and was forced to resign.

After he left the country, the Supreme Court in a statement said Justice Sinha was facing 11 charges including “graft and money laundering”.

The accused in the graft case include the bank’s former MD AKM Shamim, Senior Executive Vice President and former head of Credit Division Gazi Salahuddin, First Vice President of Credit Division Swapan Kumar Roy, Senior Vice President and former branch manager Zia Uddin Ah-med, First Vice President Shafiuddin Askary and Vice President Lutful Haque.

The two used the same residential address in their bank documents, including loan applications. The ACC, during investigation, found that the house is owned by Sinha, the statement said.

The two account holders mortgaged 32 acres of land, owned by Santri Roy, in Savar against the loan applications, the statement said.

The other accused are one Shahjahan of Tangail’s Sreehoripur village; Ranjit Chandra Saha of the district’s Jodunathpur village, his wife Santri Roy and nephew Niranjan Chandra Saha.According to the case, Shahjahan and Niranjan opened two current accounts with Farmers Bank’s Gulshan Branch on November 6, 2016.

“Without any scrutiny, any analysis of records and with disregard to banking rules, the then manager of Gulshan branch of the bank Zia Uddin Ahmed, operation manager Lutful Haque and credit in-charge Shafiuddin Askary prepared a loan proposal within hours,” it said.

A day after the loan money arrived in the two accounts, two pay orders, each worth Taka 2 crore, were issued from the bank branch, it said.

On November 9, 2016, the pay orders were deposited to Sinha’s account with Sonali Bank’s Supreme Court branch, the statement said, adding the ex-CJ withdrew the money on different dates.

“Accused former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha misguided them, used Ranjit Saha and took signature on bank documents. They misappropriated Tk 4 crore and the money is yet to be paid,” the statement said.