Former minister Nazmul Huda, who now leads the political party Trinamool BNP, will have to surrender as the High Court has published the full verdict rejecting his appeal challenging the trial court’s conviction of graft.
The 67-page verdict was made available on Sunday (Nov 15).
In November last year, the bench of Justice Bhabani Prasad Singha and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam commuted the lower court’s seven-year jail term to four years while turning down Huda’s plea challenging the verdict.
“Corruption is seen everywhere in society. Corruption corrodes the moral fabric of society and corruption by public servants not only leads to corrosion of the moral fabric of the society but is also harmful to the national economy and national interest, as the person, occupying high posts in the Government by misusing his power due to corruption can cause considerable damage to the national economy, national interest and image of the country,” reads the full verdict available on the Supreme Court’s website.
The former BNP minister has to surrender within 45 days after the trial court receives the copy’s verdict otherwise a warrant will be issued against him.
In March 2017, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case accusing Nazmul Huda of Tk 24 million as bribe from businessman Mir Zahir Hossain at different times in exchange for awarding him five government contracts for construction works including road renovations worth about Tk 300 million.
His wife Sigma Huda was charged in the same case for aiding and abetting her husband in taking the bribe, which was found deposited in an account of Khoborer Ontorale, a weekly newspaper owned by her. Later Tk 10 million of the bribe money was transferred to HSBC bank accounts of their daughters.
A special court, in August 2007, sentenced Nazmul Huda to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment, while his wife Sigma to three years.
Nazmul Huda was also slapped a fine Tk 25 million, in default of which he will have to serve one more year of jail term.
The court also ordered the amount of the bribe of Tk 24 million, taken as bribe, to be confiscated by the state.
The couple moved the High Court and in March 2011, were acquitted of the charges
In December 2014, the Appellate Division scrapped the acquittal and asked the High Court to hold a fresh hearing on their appeal, when Huda’s sentence was commuted to four years.