A chamber judge of the Supreme Court yesterday refused to grant bail to former minister Nazmul Huda in a bribery case in which he was sentenced to four years' imprisonment by the High Court.

Huda, who was sent to prison after he surrendered to a Dhaka court on January 6, moved a leave-to-appeal petition before the apex court chamber judge yesterday, seeking bail.

But Justice Md Nuruzzaman sent the petition to its full bench, denying him bail.

Justice Nuruzzaman also fixed January 13 for hearing the matter at the full bench, Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, lawyer for the Anti-Corruption Commission, told The Daily Star.

Huda, chairman of Bangladesh National Alliance (BNA), was defeated in the December 30 national election. He was a candidate from Dhaka-17.

Advocate Sigma Huda appeared for him.

On November 8, 2017, the HC delivered a verdict, commuting his jail term to four years from seven years in the bribery case, involving Tk 2.4 crore.

In the judgement, the HC said sentence of Huda's wife Sigma Huda will be considered served as she had earlier served jail term in the case.

It also ordered Huda to surrender to the lower court in 45 days of receiving the verdict.

On January 8 last year, the SC rejected Huda's petition, seeking permission to file an appeal against HC judgement without surrendering to the lower court.

On March 21, 2007, ACC filed the case with Dhanmondi Police Station, saying that Huda, when he was the communications minister in the BNP-led government, took Tk 2.40 crore as bribe from businessman Mir Zahir Hossain at different times in exchange for awarding him five government contracts for construction work, including road renovation, worth about Tk 30 crore.

A special court on August 27, 2007, sentenced Huda to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and his wife to three years' simple imprisonment.

Sigma was charged in the case for aiding and abetting her husband in taking the bribe.

Following their appeal, the HC on March 20, 2011, acquitted the couple of the corruption charges. On December 1, 2014, the SC's Appellate Division scrapped the acquittal and asked the HC to hold a fresh hearing on their appeal.