Prashanta Kumar Halder (P.K. Halder) is a Bangladeshi-Candian banker. He is a Bangladeshi businessman who had control over several financial firms and misused his authority by embezzling over 100 Billion Taka with the help of his associates and relatives. After hiding in India for 2 years, he was finally arrested on 14 May 2022.
Wiki/Biography
P.K. Halder was born in mid 90s at Matibhanga union, Nazirpur in Bangladesh. His loved ones used to call him Moru in childhood. He studied at the Dighirjan Government Primary School for his early education. After this, he went to Dighirjan High School for SCC. He always remained the top ranker in his class. After this, he attended the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology for his graduation. After this, he went to the Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University for pursuing his MBA.
Physical Appearance
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
He is the son of Pralab Chandra Halder and Lilabati Haldar. His father was a tailor and his mother was a school teacher in Matibhanga union, Nazirpur. He has two brothers named Pijush Haldar and Pranesh Haldar who are both businessmen and now live in India.
Relationships/Affairs
P.K. Halder had two girlfriends in Bangladesh and they were Avantika Baral and Nahida Runai. Ujjwal Kumar, an associate of PK Halder gave a statement to Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate named Atiqul Islam and mentioned the two girlfriends of PK Halder. He said,
PK Haldar’s two girlfriends, Avantika Baral and Nahida Runai. He has traveled to Singapore and Thailand 20 to 25 times separately with these two. There was great competition between the two to get PK Haldar’s company.”
Apart from traveling abroad with his two girlfriends, he used to separately spend time with each one of them at various clubs in Dhaka.
P.K. Halder’s girlfriend Nahida Runai
Ujjwal Kumar Nandi also stated that he and all the other associates of P.K. Haldar used to call Avantika as Little Apa and Runai as Big Apa. After interrogating Ujjwal, the ACC investigation team said,
PK Haldar’s relationship with Runai and Avantika was like that of a husband and wife. And Runai and Avantika’s relationship was like Satin’s. There was also fierce competition between the two for overseas travel. Once, PK secretly went on a pleasure trip to Singapore with Avantika. When Runai learned of the matter, several people said that PK had suffered physical abuse. Apart from this, Runai attacked PK several times because of his closeness to Avantika.’
Abantika Baral arrested by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2021
Career
Money Laundering Case
In 2008, P.K. Halder became the Deputy Managing Director of Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited. A year later, in 2009 he was appointed as the Managing Director of Reliance Finance Ltd. On 3 July 2014, he founded his own company P&L Hal Holding in Canada. In July 2015, he became the Managing Director of NRB Global Bank which was later renamed to Global Islami Bank. He was also the owner of HAL international and one of the directors of this company, Swapan Kumar Mistri was also serving as a director of International Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. The wife of Swapan Kumar Mistri was the chairperson of Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Ltd. Another person connected to them was Uttam Kumar Mistri who was the brother of Swapan Kumar Mistri. The wife of Uttam Mistri, Atoshi Mridha took a loan of about 800 Million Taka from the International Leasing and Financial Services Limited for a fake company named Kolasin. Halder’s cousin, Amitav Adhikari was the director of People’s Leasing and Financial Services Ltd. from 2015 to 2019. That time around, Uzzal Kumar Nandi, who was a former colleague of Halder served as the chairperson of People’s Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. These two people assisted Halder in the embezzlement of millions of takas from the People’s Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. After this embezzlement, Halder became the chairperson of People’s Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. The fraud was suspected in 2019 and the investigation against Halder began after multiple raids on illegal casinos were made in Dhaka. In 2020 the Bangladesh Bank revealed that Halder has embezzled a total of 15 Billion Taka from the International Leasing & Financial Services Limited. This was followed by 22 Billion from FAS Finance & Investment Ltd. The third fraud was with People’s Leasing & Financial Services Ltd from where he stole 30 Billion. Another robbed company was Reliance Finance Limited from where he stole 25 Billion taka. After these findings, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFI) and the Anti Corruption Commission investigated Halder. In March 2020, he eloped from Bangladesh and came to India an hour before a travel ban was enforced against him. From India, he went to Canada as he was a Canadian citizen. In December 2020, all the properties of P.K. Halder were seized by the Anti Corruption Commission of Bangladesh. Halder also owned Northern Jute Manufacturing Company Ltd., Rahman Chemicals, Aziz Fibre Jute Control, and Simtex Industries, and his cousin Amitabh Adhikari left his job at Bangladesh Civil Service and joined his business. In January 2021, NI Khan, who was associated with him was banned by Bangladesh from leaving the country.
Three associates of P.K. Halder were arrested in 2021
However, this order was revoked later by an appeal. 14 people associated with Halder were called by the Anti Corruption Commission of Bangladesh to their office for investigation regarding Halder’s money laundering case. On 5 April 2021, Abdul Alim, the owner of Clewiston Foods and Accommodation sued Halder for the loan matter to establish Radisson Blue hotel in the Bazar of Cox. As per Alim, Halder demanded a majority stake in his company for approving this business loan in 2014. Another close associate of Halder was Pritish Kumar Sarker who was the Managing director of FAS Finance and Investment Ltd. was prevented from leaving Bangladesh by the Bank of Bangladesh. Court ordered Halder to return to Bangladesh but he disobeyed this legal order as well. In November 2021, the Anti Corruption Commission of Bangladesh filed charges against Halder and the people involved with him including Pritish Kumar Halder.
Arrested
PK Halder was hiding from everyone and was secretly staying in India. In May 2022, PK Halder was arrested by the Indian officials from Ashoknagar in the North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, India. He was staying in India by falsely representing his identity by the name of Shibshankar Halder.
P.K. Halder arrested in India in May 2022
Facts/Trivia
- In his childhood, he was once [physically assaulted for an issue about his school’s finances.
- When arrested, he was found with an Indian, Bangladeshi passport, and a Grenadian passport.
- A Red Corner Notice was issued against P.K. Halder by the International Criminal Police Organization known as Interpol as per the Directorate of Enforcement reports.