DHAKA, Bangladesh: A Bangladesh court on Sunday issued an arrest warrant against the cricketer and former Awami League MP Shakib Al Hasan in a case involving the bounced cheques worth over $300,000.
The warrant was issued after Shakib, chairman of Agro Farm Limited, failed to appear in court, media reports said.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ziadur Rahman issued the order after the player who serves as the chairman of Agro Farm Limited, failed to appear before the court, according to media reports.
“The court has previously summoned Shakib, but he did not appear at the court”, said Mohammed Shahibur Rahman from the IFIC Bank, which filed the case. “Now, the court has issued the warrant,” he said.
Shakib Al Hasan who is living abroad is a former lawmaker from the party of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted by student protest and fled to India in August 2024. Shakib was playing in a domestic Twenty20 cricket competition in Canada when Hasina’s government collapsed.
The left-arm allrounder has represented Bangladesh in 71 Tests, 247 One-Day Internationals, and 129 Twenty20 matches, taking a combined 712 wickets. However, he has been excluded from the 15-man squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy one-day international tournament in Pakistan and Dubai next month.
On 15 December last year, IFIC Bank Relationship Officer Shahibur Rahaman filed a case on behalf of the bank at a Dhaka court against the cricketer-turned-businessman and three other officials of his company.
After recording the case and the plaintiff’s statement on the same day, the court summoned Shakib, Sahagir, and the Agro farm’s directors, Imdadul Haque and Malaika Begum, to appear before it today.
Shakib, founded a crab farming venture, in the Datinakhali area of Shyamnagar, Satkhira, in 2016.
According to case details, Shakib Al Hasan obtained a loan of $ 82,305 as working capital and $ 123,458 as a term loan from IFIC Bank’s Banani branch in 2017.
Due to the company’s failure to repay the working capital loan on time, the bank converted it into a term loan. After issuing multiple repayment notices, the company issued two cheques totalling $ 340,745, including interest and principal, to the bank on 4 September last year. However, the cheques were dishonoured due to insufficient funds in the associated account.
