Supreme Court grants BNP leader Amanullah Aman bail

Aman was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2007 in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has granted bail to Dhaka Metropolitan North BNP Convener Amanullah Aman, who was sentenced to 13 years jail in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission over amassing illegal wealth and concealing information about his assets.

He will, however, require the court’s approval for travelling abroad.

The Appellate bench of five led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan issued the order on Wednesday.

Advocate Mahbubuddin Khokon represented Aman while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan was the legal counsel for the ACC.

As per the case documents, the ACC filed a case with the Kafrul Police Station on Mar 6, 2007, naming Amanullah Aman and Sabera Aman, accusing them of concealing asset information and amassing illegal wealth.

On Jun 21 of the same year, a Special Judge’s Court sentenced Aman to 13 years in jail and his wife Sabera to three years in jail. Both of them appealed to the High Court against the verdict. The High Court approved their appeal and released them on Aug 16, 2010.

The ACC filed an appeal against the High Court order and the Appellate Division scrapped it on May 26, 2014, and ordered a new hearing of the appeal.

The High Court upheld the verdict, keeping the prison sentences of the couple. It also ordered them to surrender within 15 days of receiving the copy of the verdict.

The full verdict was published on Aug 7, last year. As per the court order, the couple surrendered to the court of Dhaka Special Judge Abul Kashem on Sept 10. The court turned down the plea and ordered Aman to be sent to jail.

Aman filed an appeal on Sept 12 and also sought bail.

Earlier, Sabera surrendered to the court on Sept 3, 2023. But the Dhaka Special Judge Court-1 sent her to jail. The next day, Sabera filed an appeal against the High Court order and sought bail. Justice M Enayetur Rahim of the Chamber Court granted her bail on Sept 5.