Ex-MP Iqbal's wife, three children appeal against conviction in ACC case

Former Awami League MP HBM Iqbal's wife and three children, sent to jail for concealing wealth information, have challenged their conviction in the High Court.

In the appeal filed at the High Court on Thursday, they sought bail besides a stay order on the verdict.

Khurshid Alam Khan, lawyer for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which prosecuted the four, said the corruption watchdog had received a copy of the appeal.

Iqbal had been sentenced to 13 years in jail and fined Tk 5 million in the case initiated during the regime of the military-controlled caretaker government in 2007 over concealing wealth information and acquiring wealth beyond known his sources of income. 

His wife Mamtaz Begum, sons Imran Iqbal and Moin Iqbal, and daughter Naurin Iqbal were sentenced to three years in prison and fined Tk 100,000 each.

The High Court dismissed the charges against Iqbal and stayed the conviction of his wife and three children in 2011.

The four surrendered to the lower court on Wednesday following an Appellate Division order. The court, refusing them a grant of bail, sent them to prison.

A former lawmaker from Dhaka, Iqbal is the chairman of Premier Bank. His son Imran is a director of the bank. The other son Moin and daughter Naurin have also served as directors.