ACC Granted 2.5 More Months to Submit Probe Report in Shakib Al Hasan Case

The court has extended the time for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to submit its investigation report by another two and a half months in the case involving former Bangladesh cricket captain and ex-Magura-1 MP Shakib Al Hasan, his mother Shirin Akter, and 13 others over allegations of share market manipulation, fraud, and money laundering.

The probe report was scheduled to be submitted on Tuesday. However, since the ACC could not submit it, Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Sabbir Foyez set the next date as 20 May.

Assistant Director of the ACC’s Court Prosecution Division Aminul Islam confirmed the information.

The other accused in the case are: Cooperative Department Deputy Registrar Abul Khayer, his wife Kazi Sadia Hasan, Abul Kalam Madbar, Konika Afroze, Mohammad Bashar, Sajed Madbar, Aleya Begum, Kazi Fuad Hasan, Kazi Farid Hasan, Javed A Matin, Jahed Kamal, Humayun Kabir, and Tanvir Nizam.

The case was filed on 17 May last year by ACC Assistant Director Sajjad Hossain at the ACC headquarters.

The FIR alleges that the accused engaged in continuous trading, fraudulent active trading, and speculative transactions through their beneficial owner (BO) accounts in an unethical and illegal manner to manipulate the market.

They reportedly formed a syndicate and artificially inflated prices of specific shares through repeated buying and selling, deceiving ordinary investors into investing in those manipulated shares. As a result, ordinary investors suffered massive financial losses, while the syndicate allegedly embezzled more than Tk 256 crore 97 lakh 70 thousand 304, which was presented as abnormal capital gains but was actually proceeds of crime.

The ACC also alleged that Abul Khayer (alias Hiru) laundered Tk 29 crore 94 lakh 42 thousand 185 from share market proceeds with the help of his wife Kazi Sadia Hasan by transferring the money to various channels.

The FIR mentions Tk 542 crore 31 lakh 51 thousand 982 in abnormal, unreasonable, and suspicious transactions across 17 bank accounts in Hiru’s name.

It further states that Shakib Al Hasan invested in shares of Paramount Insurance Limited, Crystal Insurance Limited, and Sonali Papers Limited — companies allegedly manipulated by Hiru.

“In doing so, he actively participated in market manipulation and, through deception, lured ordinary investors into buying those manipulated shares, thereby embezzling Tk 2 crore 95 lakh 2 thousand 915 from them in the name of realized capital gains.”

It was for alleged manipulation in Paramount Insurance shares that the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) fined Shakib Tk 50 lakh last September.

At that time, BSEC also fined Abul Khayer (alias Hiru) Tk 25 lakh, Ishal Communication Limited Tk 75 lakh, Monarch Mart Limited Tk 1 lakh, Abul Kalam Matbar Tk 10 lakh, Lava Electrode Industries Tk 1 lakh, and Jahed Kamal Tk 1 lakh.

Bangladesh’s most successful cricketer Shakib Al Hasan was elected MP from Magura in the 2024 election on an Awami League nomination. While he was in Canada in August, the Awami League government fell. He has not returned to the country since.

In August, a murder case was filed against him at Adabor Police Station. Later, the ACC began investigating allegations of share market scam, involvement in banned gambling business and gambling institutions, gold smuggling, fraudulently embezzling money from crab businessmen, corruption in cricket, and concealing asset information in his election affidavit.