Staff Reporter :The Supreme Court has upheld a High Court (HC) bail order for BNP standing committee member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a money laundering case.A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha, passed the order on Sunday, resolving a plea filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) against the HC bail order. Now there are no more hurdles to release of the BNP leader from jail following the apex court’s order, as no other case is pending against him, said Dr Mosharraf’s counsel Khandaker Maruf Hossain.Dr Mosharraf’s PA Shah Akhtaruzzaman told The New Nation that the BNP leader would be released from the Kashimpur Jail today (Monday). ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam said that the SC upheld the HC bail order, resolving their petition with some observations and conditions. The conditions include disposing of the case within next three months, Dr Mosharraf would not be able to withdraw money from the frozen bank account and he has to submit his passport to the authorities, as he would not leave the country.The 79-year-old former minister has been in jail for about two years in the case filed by the ACC, which accuses him of siphoning off around Tk 90 million. Dr Mosharraf was arrested from his Gulshan residence in the city on March 12 in 2014 in the case. He has been in jail since then. In October last year, a Dhaka court indicted Dr Mosharraf, taking the case forward. On August 19, the High Court granted bail to him in the case on condition that he would not leave the country. He will also not be able to draw money from the account at the UK-based bank concerned.The ACC challenged the HC order in the appeals court. The apex court stayed his bail and ordered the ACC to file a ‘leave-to-appeal’ plea, which was resolved on Sunday. The Appellate Division on August 27 stayed for two weeks the HC bail order after hearing on the ACC’s plea. On February 6 in 2014, ACC director Nasim Anwar filed the case against Dr Mosharraf with Ramna Police Station in the city, accusing him of laundering money while he was the Health Minister between 2001 and 2006. The charges stated that he had laundered £804,142 to a joint account with his wife at the Lloyd’s Bank in the UK.The BNP leader claims that the money in question was neither illegally earned nor laundered out of the country.
