New Delhi, May 15 (Agency) A former Managing Director of NRB Global Bank Bangladesh has been arrested in West Bengal for cheating multiple banks in Bangladesh of several hundred crore Bangladeshi taka and siphoning off the money to India. As per a statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency had on Friday raided 10 locations in North and South 24 Parganas of West Bengal to arrest the accused. All the suspects had fraudulently obtained Indian citizenship papers, it said. “The money siphoned from Bangladesh was used for buying a huge quantity of land and property in Bengal and Kolkata,” an ED official said. “The money was taken as loan from various banks by companies that only exist on paper. Realising that they had been cheated, the banks informed the financial intelligence unit of Bangladesh police that subsequently approached the Indian government,” he added. The accused were identified as Proshanta Kumar Halder, Pritish Kumar Halder and Pranesh Kumar Halder.
Proshanta had been living in Bengal as an Indian citizen under the name of Shibshankar Halder, after procuring a ration card issued by the Bengal government, Indian voter ID card as well as PAN and Aadhar card, the ED statement said. His associates also managed to get similar documents, the agency found during investigation. ED officials found that the suspects had set up companies in India on the basis of these documents and also purchased immovable property at various places, including Kolkata. The money embezzled in Bangladesh was siphoned off to other countries as well, added the statement.