High Court asks why anti-money laundering law taking retroactive effect not illegal

The High Court has asked the Anti Corruption Commission and several top government officials why it should not declare the anti-money laundering law taking retroactive effect contrary to the Constitution.

Court CorrespondentSupreme bdnews24.com
Published : 15 Feb 2016, 01:29 PM
Updated : 15 Feb 2016, 01:29 PM

A bench issued a rule to this effect on Monday on a writ petition filed by Tushar Ahmed, a general manager of scam-tainted Hall-Mark Group.
 
He has challenged the pressing of charges against him under Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 for offences allegedly committed three years earlier.
 
The court asked the complainants in the cases, the anti-graft body and secretaries to the law, home and finance ministries, to respond to the rule within two weeks.
 
It fixed Mar 3 for the next hearing on the petition.
 
The petition says charges have been pressed in nine of the 11 cases filed against Ahmed under the 2012 law though the alleged offences were committed in 2009, when previous version of the law was in force.
 
Hall-Mark Group had drawn over Tk 26 billion from government-run Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla branch through forgery in Bangladesh’s one of the largest financial scams.