Rooppur Power Plant Graft Case: SC stays contractor’s bail order

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed for 16 weeks a High Court order that granted bail to contractor Asif Hossain in a case filed over corruption in purchasing furniture and household items for the officials of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna.Chamber judge of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court Justice Md Nuruzzaman passed the order after virtually hearing a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, seeking a stay on the HC order.

ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that Asif Hossain, managing director of construction company -- Mujib and Sons -- cannot get release from jail following the SC stay order. The apex court stayed the HC bail order, considering the gravity of the offence allegedly committed by Asif, he added.

Barrister FM Kamal appeared for Asif during the hearing on ACC's petition. Following a bail petition filed by Asif, the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder on June 29 granted ad-interim bail to him in the case.

The same day, ACC filed the petition with the SC, seeking stay on the HC bail order.

The ACC filed the case with its Pabna district office against Asif and several others on December 12 last year on charges of irregularities involving Tk 26 crore in supplying furniture and household items to the officials of the power plant, said Advocate Khurshid Alarm Khan.Asif was also arrested on that day.                

According to several reports, the prices of the various items used to furnish the project's 966 flats for the Russian engineers and others were abnormally higher than market prices.

The reports claimed that each pillow was bought for Tk 5,957, and the cost of carrying it to a flat was Tk 760. An electric stove cost Tk 7,747 and the cost of carrying it from the ground floor to the top floor was Tk 6,650. The price of an electric iron was Tk 4,154 and the carrying cost was Tk 2,945.