Khalidi’s bail challenged at SC

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a petition with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court challenging a High Court order that granted anticipatory bail to Toufique Imrose Khalidi, editor-in-chief of online news portal bdnews24.com, in a corruption case.

In the petition, the ACC prayed to the apex court to stay the HC order of bail to Khalidi, saying that there are specific allegations against him of committing corruption, ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said the ACC filed the stay petition with the SC on August 27. The chamber judge of the Appellate Division might hold hearing on the ACC's stay petition tomorrow, the ACC lawyer added.

On August 26, the HC granted anticipatory bail to Khalidi for eight weeks in the corruption case.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after hearing a bail petition filed by Khalidi. His lawyer Mahbub Shafique told The Daily Star that the HC granted bail to his client considering the argument that he has not committed any corruption.

ACC on July 30 filed the case against Khalidi, for allegedly depositing Tk 42 crore which have no "legal source" in different banks.

Gulshan Anwar Pradhan, deputy director of the anti-graft watchdog, filed the case with ACC's integrated district office Dhaka-1, saying that Khalidi earned the money through illegal means by creating "fake documents".

Khalidi, however, has denied the allegations.