HC orders freezing of Hong Kong accounts

The High Court yesterday directed the authorities concerned to freeze the bank accounts of BNP leader and former foreign minister M Morshed Khan, his wife Nasrin Khan and son Faisal Morshed Khan with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. 

The court also asked Morshed, Nasrin and Faisal to restrain from transferring 16 million Hong Kong dollars from the bank till further orders.

The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain came up with the order following a revision petition filed by the Anti Corruption Commission challenging two lower court orders in this regard.

ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the authorities concerned of Standard Chartered Bank of Hong Kong will freeze the bank accounts of Morshed, Nasrin and Faisal in line with Bangladesh HC order.

There are uncut agreements with Hong-Kong and 131 other countries and Bangladesh under which the authorities concerned of those countries will execute the court orders in connection with money laundering cases, he said.

Khursid said the ACC has already sent the HC order to the concerned authorities of Hong Kong.

He said the ACC filed a money laundering case against Morshed, Nasrin and Faisal in 2013 and the commission gave a final report to the lower court in July last year saying that they did not launder money.

The lower court on April 15 this year accepted the final report and exempted the three from the money laundering charge.

Hong Kong police, who had frozen their bank account in 2008 under an administrative order, sent a letter to ACC that they will open the accounts if there are no legal steps against them in connection with the case, the ACC lawyer said.

The ACC then submitted two petitions to a Dhaka court to revive the case and seeking its permission to reinvestigate into the case.

The Dhaka court on June 2 rejected the petitions, he said, adding that the commission yesterday moved the revision petition before the HC challenging the lower court orders.

The HC yesterday issued a rule upon the government and Morshed, Nasrin and Faisal to explain as to why the lower court order that accepted the ACC's final report should not be cancelled.

The HC fixed June 15 for further order on this issue, Khurshid Alam Khan added.