A Dhaka Court on Wednesday granted bail to Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat in a corruption case filed for siphoning around Tk 222 crore and channeling it to casinos in Singapore and Malaysia between 2011 and 2018.
Judge Al Asad Md. Asifuzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 granted bail after the hearing on Wednesday.
Earlier on April 10 and 11, Samrat was granted bail in money laundering, arms and narcotics cases filed with Ramna Police Station in 2019 considering his long custody and health.
Samrat’s lawyer Ehsanul Haque Samaji said with this bail order, there is no legal bar for his release as he was granted bail in all the four cases filed against him.
According to the allegations in the ACC case, Ismail Chowdhury Samrat was accused of acquiring assets worth Tk 2,94,80,087. ACC Deputy Director Md. Jahangir Alam filed a case against him on November 12, 2019. On November 26, 2020, the investigating officer of the case, Jahangir Alam, filed a chargesheet in court.
On the morning of October 6, 2019, RAB arrested Samrat and his aide Enamul Haque Arman from Chauddagram in Cumilla. A raid was later conducted at Samrat’s Kakrail office. At the time, large quantities of foreign liquor, pistols and rare species of wildlife skins were recovered.
A mobile court sentenced Samrat to six months in prison for possessing wildlife skins. The next day, on October 8, RAB-1’s DAD Abdul Khaleq filed a case with the Ramna Police Station under the Narcotics and Arms Act.
Following the investigation, on November 8, 2020, Shekhar Chandra Mallick, Sub-Inspector of RAB-1, filed the chargesheet in the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.
Besides, on December 9 of the same year, SI Abdul Halim of RAB-1 filed a chargesheet against Samrat in a drug case. On October 12 of that year, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police filed a case against Samrat under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) busted the illegal gambling businesses set up by Samrat, the then president of Jubo League’s Dhaka South unit, at several spots in Dhaka in 2019.
