Convicted MP Bodi gets 6 months' bail

The High Court yesterday granted bail to convicted Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi for six months in a corruption case, clearing the way for his walking out of jail.

In response to a petition filed by Bodi yesterday, the HC stayed the trial court order that had fined him Tk 10 lakh in the case lodged by the Anti-Corruption Commission in March 2014.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

It also agreed to hear Bodi's appeal challenging the lower court verdict that had jailed him for three years in the same case.

The HC bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus passed the order after hearing Bodi's petition seeking bail in the case and stay on the lower court fine order.  

Nashreen Siddiqua Lina, a lawyer for Bodi, told The Daily Star that the HC granted bail to her client on the ground that he is a member of parliament and a law-abiding citizen, and he never misused bail granted by the court. 

There was no legal bar to the release of Bodi from prison following the HC order of bail, she added.

ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told this correspondent that the commission would move a petition before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, seeking stay on the HC order.

He also said the ACC would also file an appeal with the HC against a portion of the lower court order that had acquitted Bodi of the charge of amassing wealth illegally.

Dhaka Special Judge's Court-3 on November 2 convicted Bodi and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment for “concealing” and “deliberately providing false” wealth statement to the ACC in March 2014.

It also fined Bodi Tk 10 lakh and said in default, he would have to spend three more months in jail.

On November 10, Bodi filed an appeal with the HC, challenging the lower court judgment.