Sustained interrogation of Proshanta Kumar Halder alias PK Harder – the arrested mastermind of Tk 10,000 crore banking scam in Bangladesh – by India’s Directorate of Enforcement has revealed that he possessed passports of Bangladesh, India and Grenada and that he allegedly siphoned off the money to various countries.
“Besides Bangladeshi and Indian passports, he (PK Halder) was also found in possession of a Grenada Passport. It has also been learnt that the Interpol has issued Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Proshanta Kumar Halder,” the Directorate of Enforcement said today in a statement.
According to the statement, “It has been further revealed that the subject case is an offence of cross-border implication under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, as Proshanta Kumar Halder has been found to be accused in approximately 10,000 crore Bangladeshi Taka bank fraud in Bangladesh and alleged to have siphoned off money outside Bangladesh to various countries.”
The Directorate of Enforcement began the interrogation of Halder a day after his arrest in Ashok Nagar in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.
It carried out search operations at 11 premises linked to Bangladesh nationals namely Proshanta Kumar Halder, Pritish Kumar Halder and their associates across the state of West Bengal.
Proshanta Kumar has been nabbed along with his five other associates during these searches, the ED said adding PK Halder was found in the disguised identity of Indian citizen as Shibshankar Halder, the ED said in its first confirmation of the arrests.
During searches, it was revealed the PK Halder, along with his other associates, fraudulently obtained various Indian government identities like ration card from the state of West Bengal, Indian voter ID card, PAN and Aadhar card.
The ED said it has ascertained that these Bangladesh nationals have also managed to float companies in India on the basis of fraudulently obtained identities and have purchased properties in West Bengal.
The ED members arrested a total of six persons including Proshanta Kumar Halder under the PMLA, 2002.
The other arrested persons are: Swapan Maitra alias Swapan Mistry, Uttam Maitra alias Uttam Mistry, Imam Hossian alias Imon Halder, Amana Sultana alias Sharmee Halder and Pranesh Kumar Halder.
All the six arrested persons were produced before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Sunday which remanded five of them to the ED custody and one to judicial custody.
ED sources said Halder was remanded to its custody.
