Former BB deputy governor SK Sur sent to jail

A Dhaka court on Tuesday sent Sitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury, also known as SK Sur, former deputy governor of the Bangladesh Bank, to jail in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income and concealing information of assets.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Zakir Hossain Galib passed the order after ACC Deputy Director Nazmul Hussain, also the investigating officer of the case, produced him before the court and prayed for keeping the accused behind bars.

Earlier in the day, the anti-graft watchdog arrested SK Sur with the help of the detective branch of police at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital.

SK Sur served as the deputy governor during the $101 million theft from the Bangladesh Bank's foreign exchange reserves at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in February 2016. He retired from the post in January 2018.

Sur allegedly facilitated the loan scam orchestrated by former NRB Global Bank managing director Prashanta Kumar Halder (PK Halder) during his tenure as the deputy governor.

As Sur’s name surfaced in the financial scandal, the ACC launched an investigation against him and others in 2022.

On 29 March of that year, the former deputy governor was quizzed over the embezzlement of Tk2,500 crore from the International Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (ILFSL).

ACC Deputy Director Nazmul Hussain told the court on Tuesday that they earlier served notices to SK Sur, his wife Suparna Sur Chowdhury, and other dependants to submit their wealth statements to the anti-graft body but they did not comply with the order.

The commission in December last year filed a case against them.