The High Court (HC) yesterday granted bail to former Awami League (AL) ministers Tofail Ahmed and Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury and former BNP minister MK Anwar in separate corruption cases filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) stayed for a month the HC awarded bails to former BNP minister Tariqul Islam, former state minister for liberation war affairs Redwan Ahmed, his wife Momtaj Ahmed, Barisal City Corporation (BCC) Mayor Majibor Rahman Sarwar and Dhaka City Corporation (DC) Ward Commissioner Abdul Qaiyum in separate corruption cases.
The HC orders came after separate bail petitions were filed by Tofail, Sajeda and Anwar.
Tofail and Sajeda yesterday appeared before an HC bench for their bail. Barrister M Amir-ul Islam appeared for Tofail while barrister Shafique Ahmed and advocate Yususf Hossain Humayun argued for Sajeda.
Their anticipatory bails are valid till the submission of charge sheets in the cases.
Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Zahirul Hoque and advocate Khurshid Alam Khan moved for the ACC.
On May 29, ACC Deputy Director Golam Shahrier Chowdhury filed a case with Ramna Police Station against AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed for amassing Tk 2.45 crore wealth inconsistent with his known sources of income and concealing information about Tk 1.86 crore in his wealth statement submitted to the ACC. His wife and daughter were charged with abetting him.
On July 10, ACC Assistant Director Mozahar Ali Sarder filed the case against AL presidium member and former environment and forest minister Sajeda Chowdhury in connection with concealing wealth worth Tk 13.84 lakh from the ACC and amassing the said wealth illegally.
The HC bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad also granted a two-month ad interim bail yesterday to former BNP minister MK Anwar in the Gatco corruption case filed by ACC.
Barrister Rafique-ul Huq moved for MK Anwar during the hearing yesterday.
The ACC filed the Gatco case against BNP Chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda and 22 others, including Jamaat-e Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, M Shamsul Islam and MK Anwar, on September 2 last year accusing them of indulging in corruption to award Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Co Ltd (Gatco) the contract for container management at inland container depots in Dhaka and Chittagong causing a loss of over Tk 1,000 crore to the state exchequer.
Later, the case was brought under the Emergency Power Rules. The HC had stayed the proceedings against Khaleda Zia and granted bail to Nizami.
Meanwhile, detained former BNP ministers Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and M Shamsul Islam filed separate petitions with the HC for bail in the Gatco corruption case.
The SC yesterday stayed the HC orders granting bail to former BNP minister Tariqul Islam, former state minister for liberation war affairs Redwan Ahmed, his wife Momtaz Ahmed, Barisal City Corporation (BCC) Mayor Majibor Rahman Sarwar and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Ward Commissioner Abdul Qaiyum in separate cases.
After separate petitions were filed by the ACC, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice MA Matin stayed the HC orders for one month. The HC orders had stayed the proceedings against them in the cases.
The judge also asked the ACC to file regular appeals with the SC against the HC orders within this period.
On July 14, the HC following petitions granted bail to Tariqul Islam, Redwan Ahmed and his wife, Majibor Rahman Sarwar and Abdul Qaiyum and stayed the proceedings of cases filed against them in connection with amassing wealth illegally and concealing wealth information to ACC.
Counsels for the ACC yesterday argued before the court that the HC granted bail to the accused since the investigation reports had not been submitted within the stipulated 60 days of the filing of the cases. But submission of investigation reports within the period of 60 days is not mandatory, they argued.
Advocates Khan Saifur Rahman, Moazzem Hossain and Khurshid Alam moved for the ACC.