Bashundhara chief, 5 others asked to surrender
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The Supreme Court today directed Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam and five others to surrender to a lower court in three weeks in connection with a tax evasion case.
The other defendants are: Shah Alam’s wife Afroza Begum and their sons Sadat Sobhan, Safiyat Sobhan Sanbir and Sayem Sobhan -- all directors of Bashundhara Industrial Complex Ltd -- and its auditor MM Kuddus.
All the six people were awarded different jail terms during the regime of military-backed caretaker government in 2007 for evading taxes.
At day’s hearing, the Appellate Division of the SC also permitted the government to move an appeal before it against a High Court verdict that acquitted them of the case.
A four-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha passed the order after hearing two separate leave-to-appeal petitions by the government against the HC judgment.
Additional Attorney General Momtaz Uddin Fakir told The Daily Star that the Bashundhara Group chairman and its five officials will have to surrender to the lower court in three weeks after receiving the SC order.
Khairul Alam, a lawyer for accused Bashundhara officials, said the apex court today asked the Special Judge’s Court-3 of Dhaka to admit his clients on furnishing their bail bond with its satisfaction, which means that they will remain on bail in the case.
The National Board of Revenue on July 25, 2007 filed the case with the lower court against Bashundhara Industrial Complex Ltd, and its officials on charges of evading Tk 8.26 crore income tax between the fiscal years 2004 and 2007.
The Special Judge’s Court 3 of Dhaka on September 30, 2007 handed down eight-year imprisonment on Shah Alam, Afroza, Sadat, Safiyat and Sayem for evading taxes.
MM Kuddus, proprietor of Kuddus and Company, which audits the company's financial statement, was jailed for three years for assisting the company in dodging taxes.
The court also fined them Tk 8.3 crore.
Following an appeal by Shah Alam, the HC in June 2011 scrapped their jail sentences and acquitted them of the charges.
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