A Dhaka court on Tuesday ordered that Kazi Zafarullah, a Presidium member of Awami League, be shown arrested in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Shabbir Fayez passed the order following a petition by the ACC and subsequently sent him to jail. The court’s Bench Assistant, Md Riaz Hossain, confirmed the development.
The ACC filed the case on 2 February last year, accusing Zafarullah of maintaining anonymous bank accounts containing Tk4.14 crore.
On 22 February, the investigation officer, ACC Deputy Director Sharika Islam, applied to have him shown arrested in the case. The court had fixed Tuesday for the hearing in the presence of the accused, during which the order was finalised.
According to the case details, Zafarullah is under investigation for money laundering, embezzlement, forgery, and criminal breach of trust.
The prosecution alleges that, in collusion with certain officials at the Gulshan branch of The Premier Bank Limited, he used fictitious names and forged National Identity (NID) cards to open 10 Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) accounts.
A total of Tk4.14 crore was deposited into these accounts. It is further alleged that Zafarullah misappropriated an additional Tk42,07,500 in interest through account manipulation and cash withdrawals under fake identities to conceal the illicit nature of the funds.
The ACC stated in its application that showing the accused arrested was essential for a fair and impartial investigation.
