ED arrests Bangladeshi bank fraudster, unearths money laundering racket in WB

The Indo-Bangladesh border area in West Bengal is usually known for hitting headlines for smuggling of both cattle and humans and various contrabands. But on May 13 the area hit headlines for cross-border money laundering when the Enforcement Directorate raided 10 places across Kolkata and North 24-Paraganas and arrested Proshanta Kumar Halder, the kingpin of a billion taka worth of banking fraud committed across the border, and his close associates Pritish Kumar Halder and Pranesh Kumar Halder, among others.

The ED had been tipped off by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit on how Proshanta Kumar Halder had defrauded many Bangladeshi Banks worth hundreds of crores of taka and had laundered the same to India through hawala. Proshanta Kumar Halder was wanted in Bangladesh by investigating agencies for pulling bank fraud after another bank fraud, worth Taka 10,000 crore, according to reports, and crossed over to West Bengal. The massive raids resulted in the arrests of the Bangladesh fugitive and his close associates, revealing an elaborate modus operandi that the fraudster and his associates adopted, all of whom had assumed Indian identities complete with ration card (from the state of West Bengal), voter ID card, PAN and Aadhar card. Proshanta Kumar Halder was living as an Indian citizen going by the name of Shibshankar Halder.

Investigations by the ED led the agency to Sukumar Mridha, a lawyer working for Prashant’s, resulting in searches of his home in Ashok Nagar area and the office is near Kolkata bypass. Pranab Haldar, a fishmonger by profession and an associate of Proshanta, was also raided, so was Swapan Mridha, a businessman from Bangladesh, and his wife Anindita Mridha, who had built a two-storey house in the Ashok Nagar area in 2016 and was living there with his family. All these associates acted as conduits/harbours of money which Proshanta had fraudulently borrowed from Bangladeshi banks and sent to them using hawala. Using their Indian identities, these Bangladesh nationals also managed to float companies in India and purchased immovable properties at various locations including in the posh areas of the Metropolis Kolkata. True to his wont, Proshanta had also cheated some local Bengalis. The search operations conducted also revealed the involvement of an influential TMC leader and a minister of the state in this racket, according to sources in the ED. All these Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested by the ED.