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Anwar said Halder, former managing director of NRB Global Bank, created several fictitious companies. “About Tk 426 crore is found in his accounts and those of the fictitious companies,” he said.

In the investigation, the anti-graft watchdog also found the accused maintained 178 bank accounts in his and companies’ names.

“We’ve found abnormal transactions worth about Tk 6,076 crore in these accounts,” said ACC’s secretary.

PK Halder in collaboration with his brother Pritish Kumar Halder and 12 others laundered about CAD 11.7 million.

The money was first transferred to Singapore, the UAE and India and later to Canada, said Anwar.

The allegation of embezzlement against Halder surfaced after the ACC launched an enquiry into the wealth of illegal casino owners in 2019.

Earlier, the anti-graft watchdog filed 15 cases against 70 persons for misappropriating about Tk 1,132 crore of International Leasing and Financial Services Limited.

In these cases, PK Halder has been made the prime accused.

He took loans from financial institutions against at least two dozen non-existent companies created by him.

In some cases, he used part of the funds to repay instalments of loans taken against his several fictitious firms.

PK Halder put his men at the helm of the financial institutions so that he could easily borrow and misappropriate the funds.