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A Dhaka court on Monday sentenced former Audit Committee Chairman of Farmers Bank (now Padma Bank) Mahbubul Haque Chisty alias Babul Chisty and his son Rashedul Haque Chisty to 12 years imprisonment in a case filed over the embezzlement of Tk 1.59 billion.
Babul's wife, Rosy Chisty, and former First Vice President of the bank Mahsudur Rahman Khan were also handed five years in jail.
Judge Syed Arafat Hossain of Special Court-4 in Dhaka delivered the verdict on Monday, said lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kazal, who represented the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in the trial proceedings.
The court imposed a fine of Tk 3.19 billion, double the embezzled amount, on Babul, his wife and his son. Failure to pay the fine will result in an extension of the jail terms by two years for Babul and Rashedul and by one year for Rosy.
The court also ordered the seizure of all properties belonging to this family in favour of the state.
Another convict, Masudur Rahman, will have to pay a Tk 1 million fine; in default, he will serve an additional year in jail. The court also ordered the seizure of all his properties. Babul Chisty was brought to court from jail for the verdict, while his son Rashedul Haque, who was on bail, also appeared in court. However, Rosy and Masudur did not appear during the verdict.
The court cancelled their bail orders and issued arrest warrants against them.
Both Babul and Rashedul were taken to jail after the verdict was announced.
The ACC filed the case on April 10, 2018, with Gulshan Police Station, charging embezzlement of Tk 1.59 billion. According to the case documents, Babul was accused of violating banking rules by depositing or withdrawing 'huge' amounts of money through an account at the Gulshan branch of the bank.
The charges against him also include making suspicious transactions of nearly Tk 1.59 billion by using the names of his wife, children and firms owned by the members of his family through 25 accounts in different banks, in cooperation with some Farmers Bank officials.
The court framed charges against four individuals, including Babul, on October 30, 2019, and started the trial. The court concluded the arguments in the case on October 5 and set October 30 for delivering the verdict.
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