A Dhaka court has sent Trinamool BNP chief Nazmul Huda to jail after rejecting his bail plea in a case involving bribery of Tk24 million.
Dhaka Special Court 2 Judge HM Ruhul Amin passed the order after Nazmul turned himself in to the court on Sunday.
However, the court granted him division in prison and allowed him to take treatment in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital.
On November 15, 2018, a High Court bench asked him to surrender before a trial court within 45 days after a 67-pages copy of the verdict was published by the High Court denying his petition challenging the trial court’s conviction of graft.
In November 2017, the High Court reduced the jail term Nazmul Huda to four years from seven years in the bribery case filed during the regime of military-backed caretaker government.
In March 2017, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case accusing Nazmul Huda of taking a bribe of Tk24 million from businessman Mir Zahir Hossain at different times in exchange of awarding him five government contracts for construction works including road renovations worth about Tk300 million.
His wife Sigma Huda was accused in the same case for assisting her husband in receiving the bribe, which was found deposited in an account of Khoborer Ontorale, a weekly newspaper owned by her. Later, Tk10 million of the bribe money was transferred to the HSBC bank accounts of their daughters.
In August 2007, a special court sentenced Nazmul Huda and his wife to seven and three years of rigorous imprisonment respectively. The former minister was also fined Tk25 million, if refused he will have to serve one more year of jail term.
The court also ordered the Tk24 million of bribe money to be confiscated by state. The couple was acquitted in March 2011. However, in December 2014, the Appellate Division rejected the acquittal and asked the High Court to hold another hearing on their appeal.
