The Appellate Division has granted Jatiya Party lawmaker Sawkat Chowdhury three more weeks to challenge a High Court order to deposit Tk 250 million to a bank as a condition for bail.
Published : 12 Nov 2017, 11:45 AM
A five-member Supreme Court bench led by Acting Chief Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah made the decisionon Sunday.
“We have yet to receive a copy of the High Court decision,” Sawkat’s lawyer Nurul Islam Shujon told the media. “So we have applied for an extension. The court has accepted it. The next hearing is scheduled for Dec 3.”
On Oct 22, Nilphamari-4 MP Sawkat was given 50 days to deposit the fund to the Bangladesh Commerce Bank if he wanted to retain the bail granted by the trial court.
Chowdhury stands accused of amassing over Tk 942 million taken in loans from the Bangladesh Commerce Bank.
In May 2016, the Anti-Corruption Commission 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 bail.
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 to keep his bail.