PK Haldar arrested in India

PBC News:  Fugitive Bangladeshi businessman Prashant Kumar Haldar, also known as PK Haldar, who allegedly laundered over Tk 10,000 crore of four non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) abroad, has been arrested along with five others in Kolkata.

It is learnt that six persons including PK Halder and two of his brothers were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central intelligence agency of India. His two brothers were identified as Pritish Kumar Halder and Pranesh Kumar Halder.

PK Halder, also the former Managing Director of NRB Global Bank and Reliance Finance Limited, was arrested from a house at Ashoke Nagar in Kolkata on Saturday, report Indian media. He had been hiding there in guise of ‘Sib Sankar Halder.’

Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested PK Halder and five others conducting raids at various parts of West Bengal.

The operation was carried out at the request of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The ED on Friday conducted simultaneous raids at nine places in West Bengal. They found huge properties of PK Haldar, including several houses in his name. Many important documents, including land deeds, were also seized from the houses.

According to initial information, PK Haldar has 20 to 22 houses in West Bengal.

“PK Halder has been posing as an Indian citizen by the name of Shib Shankar Halder after having managed to fraudulently obtain various government identities…,” the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.

According to the ED, the three managed to float companies in India on the basis of the fraudulent documents.

Sources said that the three could eventually be handed over to Bangladesh. “We are yet to get a formal request from the authorities in the neighbouring country.”