Court orders seizure of 2 flats and car owned by Abul Barkat, freezing of bank accounts

A court has ordered the seizure of two flats and other immovable assets worth Tk 4,961,384 belonging to economist and former Janata Bank chairman Professor Abul Barkat. It also ordered the seizure of a car valued at Tk 2.9 million and the freezing of funds held in his bank accounts.

The orders were issued on Wednesday (September 16) by Shahjahan Kabir, judge of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions and Senior Special Judge’s Court. The court issued the directives following an application by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), said the court’s bench assistant, Riaz Hossain.

The assets listed for seizure include an investment of Tk 250,000 in the Dhaka University Teachers’ Housing Project and two flats in Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi in the capital. The court also ordered the seizure of the car valued at Tk 2.9 million and the freezing of all funds held in his bank accounts.

ACC Assistant Director Mohammad Shahjahan Miraj filed the application with the court. The application said an investigation was underway against Abul Barkat over allegations of providing loans to various institutions through irregularities and acquiring assets beyond his known sources of income.

According to the application, the investigation has so far identified immovable assets worth Tk 4,961,384 in his name, along with movable assets worth Tk 35,031,000 and US$10,250.

The ACC said there was a risk that the assets could be sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of before the investigation and proceedings into the allegations were completed. Citing the potential for financial loss to the state, the ACC sought the seizure and freezing of the assets under Section 14 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012, and Rule 18 of the Anti-Corruption Commission Rules, 2007.

Meanwhile, the ACC filed a case on February 20 last year against Abul Barkat and 22 others over an alleged embezzlement of Tk 297 crore through loans to AnonTex Group while he was chairman of Janata Bank. He was later arrested from Dhanmondi in the capital on July 10 last year.

After spending a prolonged period in jail, Abul Barkat was granted bail by the High Court. The state challenged the bail, but on May 21, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld his bail subject to conditions.