The High Court has ordered Jatiya Party (JaPa) leader ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader to surrender before the lower court concerned within four weeks in a corruption case involving little more than Tk40,000.
A division bench comprising Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order on Monday, admitting an appeal of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against a lower court order that acquitted the JaPa leader in the case last year.
"The court sought the documents from the trial court and asked Howlader to surrender within four weeks. The court asked the lower court to allow him bail after his surrender. It also asked for disposing of the case within six months from the date the High Court received the trial documents," ACC counsel Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan said.
Then the Bureau of Corruption filed the case with Ramna police station in 1989 against him for embezzling Tk40,643 from the state exchequer when he was the state minister for health.
Hawlader is a former secretary general of the party.