SC stays HC order granting bail to ex-NSU trustee Kashem bail

Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday stayed till November 21 a part of the High Court verdict that granted conditional bail to MA Kashem, a member of the North South University Board of Trustees, in a case filed on charge of misappropriation of Tk 303 crore during purchasing land for the institution.
Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division of the SC Justice M Enayetur Rahim, however, upheld another portion of the HC verdict that granted conditional bail to another member of NSU’s trustee board, Rehana Rahman, in the same case.
The apex court chamber judge passed the orders following two separate petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking a stay on the HC verdict.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim also asked the ACC to file a leave to appeal petition with the SC by November 21 against the HC verdict that granted bail to MA Kashem in the case.
The judge passed “no order” on the ACC’s petition that sought a stay on the HC bail for Rehana Rahman.
MA Kashem cannot get released from jail before November 21 following the SC chamber judge’s order, but there is no legal bar on Rehana Rahman’s release from jail following the chamber judge’s order, said their lawyer Sayeed Ahmed Raza.
He said the SC chamber judge passed “no order” on the petition that sought a stay on the HC verdict of bail to Rehana Rahman considering that she is an old female and the allegations brought against her on assumption.
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said that the commission will move separate leave to appeal petitions before the apex court against the HC verdict of bail to MA Kashem and Rehana Rahman after receiving the full text of the HC verdict.
Senior lawyer Murad Reza and lawyer Shah Monjurul Hoque also appeared for Kashem and Rehana during the hearing of the petitions today.
The HC on November 10, granted conditional bail to Kashem and Rehana in the case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on May 5 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 303 crore during purchasing land for the institution.