The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a High Court order that granted bail to BNP MP Harunur Rashid who was jailed by a lower court in a tax evasion case while selling an imported car.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed “no order” on a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking a stay on the HC order.
The apex court’s “no order” means that the HC order will remain in force,
said ACC lawyer Kurshid Alam Khan.
He said there is no legal bar on Harunur Rashid’s release from the jail after the SC order.
Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain, Advocate Zainul Abedin and Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan appeared in the court on behalf of Harunur Rashid.
Earlier on October 28, the High Court granted bail to BNP MP Harunur Rashid for six months in the case.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain passed the order after admitting his appeal challenging a lower court verdict that sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment in the case. Judge of the Special Judge Court-4 of Dhaka, Sheikh Nazmul Alam, on October 21 sentenced Harunur Rashid, BNP MP from Chapainawabganj-3 constituency, to five years’ imprisonment in the case. The court fined him Tk 50 lakh also, in default, to suffer six months more imprisonment. Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case with the Tejgaon Police Station on March 17 in 2007 against Harun and two others on charge of tax evasion while selling a luxury imported car during the tenure of four-party alliance government led by BNP.
