A Dhaka court today sent Mohammad Imran Hossain, owner of Sadeeq Agro, to jail after rejecting his bail in a case filed over laundering of Tk 133 crore.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate MA Azharul Islam passed the order after Investigation Officer Md Sayedur Rahman, an inspector of Criminal Investigation Department, produced him with an application to confine him in prison.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel.In the prayer, the CID official said that the Sadeeq Agro owner, with the help of another accused, brought cows from Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Thailand into the country through smuggling, fraud and forgery.
It is necessary to keep him confined in jail until the investigation is completed, the IO said.
The defence lawyer submitted an application, seeking bail on grounds that their client was implicated in the case just to harass him. Moreover, Imran and their family members had been running this business since 1952. So his bail petition should be granted.
Upon hearing both the sides, the magistrate turned down the defence pleas and ordered CID to send him to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.
CID yesterday arrested Imran Hossain in a money laundering case.
After his arrest, CID’s Financial Crime Unit filed a case against him and two others with the Mohammadpur Police Station under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The case statement alleges that Sadeeq Agro brought cows from Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Thailand into the country through smuggling, fraud and forgery.
Sadeeq Agro was also accused of fraudulently advertising Bangladeshi cows and goats as animals of foreign breed and selling them at high prices in sacrificial animal markets. It came under scrutiny last year after a controversy over a Tk 15 lakh goat which they reportedly sold to Mushfiqur Rahman Ifat, son of former National Board of Revenue member Matiur Rahman.
Later, several agencies, including the Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Board of Revenue, started investigating potential irregularities involving Sadeeq Agro.
Earlier, another Dhaka court ordered the freezing of 27 bank accounts belonging to Imran Hossain.