MP Shawkat must pay Tk 50 million to retain bail

Jatiya Party MP Md Shawkat Chowdhury will have to pay Tk 50 million to the Bangladesh Commerce Bank in two months in order to retain his bail in a loan fraud case.

An appellate bench led by acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah made the decision on Monday, revising a previous High Court decision on bail.

The High Court had initially ordered the Nilphamari-4 representative to pay a bond of Tk 250 million in order to retain the bail granted to him by a lower court.

Chowdhury sought permission to challenge the decision with the Supreme Court. Monday’s decision scrapped the appeal.

“The court says the bail will be dismissed if he fails to pay the Tk 50 millionwithin two months, said Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.

Chowdhury stands accused of amassing over Tk 942 million in loans from the Bangladesh Commerce Bank.

In May 2016, the ACC filed two cases with Dhaka's Bangshal police against Chowdhury and eight others.

Chowdhury took the money from the bank's Bangshal branch by opening letters of credit for imports by his three companies, according to the case documents.

The bank's then managing director Asaduzzaman and then Bangshal branch manager Habibul Gani are accused of abetting.

Commerce Bank counsel Sarwar Hossain claimed Chowdhury now owes the bank Tk 1.34 billion, including interest for the loans.

In August last year, Chowdhury secured a four-week anticipatory bail from the High Court. He later surrendered to the trial court and was granted mail.

In November 2016, suspects Asaduzzaman and Gani sought bail from the High Court, when the court issued a rule asking why Chowdhury's bail granted by the trial court will not be cancelled.

On Oct 22, Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim of the High Court disposed of the rule and said the lawmaker has to pay the bank Tk 250 million to keep his bail. That amount was revised down to Tk 50 million to be paid in two months in the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday.