Report submission date of Shakib Al Hasan's case deferred

A Dhaka court has deferred the deadline for submission of the investigation report in a case filed against former Bangladesh national cricket captain and former Awami League lawmaker Shakib Al Hasan over alleged stock market manipulation, fraud and money laundering.

Senior Special Judge of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court Shahjahan Kabir on Wednesday (23 September) set November 17 as the new date for submission of the report. The court had previously fixed Wednesday for submission of the report, but the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the investigating agency, failed to submit it.

According to the case documents, ACC Deputy Director Sajjad Hossain filed the case at the ACC’s head office on 17 June 2024.

The other accused in the case are Abul Khair, alias Hiru, a sub-registrar of the Department of Cooperatives; his wife Kazi Sadia Hasan; Abul Kalam Madhbar; Konika Afroz; Mohammad Basar; Sajeda Madhbar; Alea Begum; Kazi Fuad Hasan; Kazi Farid Hasan; Shirin Akter; Jabed A Matin; Jaheda Kamal; Humayun Kabir; and Tanvir Nizam.

The case was filed under Section 4 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012; Section 5(B) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947; and Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 120(B) and 109 of the Penal Code.

According to the complaint, the accused allegedly engaged in fraudulent trading, gambling and artificial inflation of the prices of selected shares, along with a series of illegal transactions through their Beneficiary Owners’ (BO) accounts for personal gain.

The complaint further alleges that their activities caused ordinary investors in the stock market to suffer significant financial losses.

It alleges that a total of Tk256 crore 97 lakh 70 thousand 304 was embezzled through the alleged scheme, which was described in the complaint as “proceeds of crime.”