The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday upheld a High Court order that granted conditional bail to Md Shahjahan, a former member of North South University's trustee board, in a case filed on charge of misappropriation of Tk 3.03 billion during purchasing land for the institution.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after dismissing a leave to appeal petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against the HC order.
Now there is no bar for Md Shahjahan to get release from the jail, said lawyer Sayeed Ahmed Raza who appeared in the court hearing on behalf of the ex-NSU trustee.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on May 05 in 2022 with the ACC’s integrated office in Dhaka against six persons including five trustees of the NSU on charge of misappropriation of Tk 3.03 billion during purchasing land for the institution.
According to the case statement, bypassing the North South University Syndicate, University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Ministry of Education, some members of the Board of Trustees of the university purchased 9096.88 decimal of land in the name of campus development paying extra charge of Tk 3.03 billion which was later embezzled.
On May 22, this year, the HC bench led by Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder rejected anticipatory bail petitions filed by the then four members of NSU trustee board in the same case and ordered Shahbagh Police Station to arrest them immediately.
Accordingly, the four accused, MA Kashem, Benajir Ahmed, Rehana Rahman and Mohammad Shajahan, were produced before the trial court on May 23. The court sent them to jail rejecting their bail prayers.
Being rejected by the trial courts Md Shahjahan moved the High Court for his bail. The High Court on August 8 in 2022 issued a rule over his bail. After final hearing on the rule the HC granted him bail on December 14 last year on some conditions.
According to the conditions, Shahjahan cannot enter NSU premises and cannot leave the country without permission from the court concerned.
Later the ACC filed petition against the HC order that granted bail to him. Chamber Judge stayed the HC order and sent the petition to the regular bench for detail hearing. In the mean time the ACC filed a leave to appeal petition on the same ground that came for hearing on Monday.
