Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday directed the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to submit charge sheets to the trial courts in two and half months in 21 corruption cases out of 56 cases filed in connection with Basic Bank loan scams.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim delivered the verdict after holding hearing on 20 bail petitions filed by one accused in connection with the cases.
Iqbal Hossain Bhuiyan, managing partner of SD Survey Firm, placed the bail petitions in 20 cases filed against him and several others.
After hearing, the High Court also asked the trial courts to consider granting bail to Iqbal Hossain Bhuiyan in the cases for ACC’s failure to submit the charge sheets in two and half months.
Lawyer Momtaz Parvin appeared for Iqbal, while advocates Khurshid Alam Khan, AKM Fazlul Hoque and Shaheen Ahmed stood for ACC during the hearing on the rules.
The ACC has been directed to complete investigations and to submit charge sheets in 21 cases filed over Basic Bank loan scams in two and half months which will be counted from the date of receiving the copy of the HC verdict, said Deputy Attorney General (DAG) AKM Amin Uddin Manik.
ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan said the ACC filed 21 cases against Iqbal Hossain Bhuiyan and several others in 2015 on charges of embezzling around Tk 1.96 billion by over valuing the prices of mortgaged properties of the borrowers of the Basic Bank.
Iqbal Hossain, who was sent to jail on his surrender to trial court on July 12, 2019, has secured bail in one of 21 cases from the HC earlier.
The HC had issued separate rules asking the state and ACC to explain as to why Iqbal should not be granted bail in remaining 20 cases, DAG Manik said.
During hearing on the rules on March 3, the HC bench said the corruption accused have caused financial damage of the state by over valuing the prices of properties which must be stopped.
Merits of the cases will be lost and the accused would get bail for delay in submitting charge sheets in the cases, the bench observed. According to a Bangladesh Bank enquiry, around Tk 45.0 billion was siphoned off from Basic Bank between 2009 and 2013 when Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu chaired the board of the bank.
