Former MP Henry shown arrested in ACC case

A Dhaka court has granted an application to show former Sirajganj-2 lawmaker Mst Jannat Ara Henry arrested in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib passed the order following an application by the anti-graft body.

Earlier, police produced Henry before the court and ACC assistant director Asif Al Mahmud filed the plea before the court.

The court sent her back to jail after hearing.

The ACC initiated probe against Henry and her dependents on August 20. She and her husband were arrested from Moulvibazar on October 1.

A court here on November 25 imposed travel ban on Mst Jannat Ara Henry, her husband and their daughter.

According to the case documents, the ACC found evidences of suspicious transactions of around Tk 3,893 crore through 49 bank accounts of Henry and her husband Shamim Talukder.

It also found evidences against the couple of amassing illegal wealth of Tk 78 crore. The ACC on December 23 filed two separate cases against them.

The court on January 12 ordered the authorities concerned to attach 45 immovable properties, including plots and flats, of Henry and seize her 16 vehicles and more than Tk 58 crore kept in her different bank accounts, over graft allegations.

Henry won the Sirajganj-2 seat in the 2024 general election as an Awami League candidate.

In 2008, Henry created a stir by getting the nod from the party in the parliamentary elections despite her previous post as assistant teacher at Shobuj Kanon High School in Sirajganj. She lost to BNP candidate Rumana Mahmud in the race. After the Awami League came to power, Henry was appointed as a member of the Sonali Bank Board of Directors in 2009. Her name came up in discussions of various incidents, including loan scandals at the bank.