SC upholds HC bail to Afroza Abbas

The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday upheld the High Court orders that granted bail to Afroza Abbas, wife of former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas, in two tax evasion cases, in which she was earlier tried in absentia and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The six-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim passed the order after dismissing two appeals filed by the government against the HC orders.
The High Court on April 29 this year granted bail to Afzora in these two cases.
Afroza's lawyer Ahsanul Karim told The Daily Star that there is now no bar to his client's release from jail following the SC order.
The Special Court-2 of Judge Amar Kumar Roy on April 11 this year sent Afroza to jail after she surrendered before the court in connection with the cases.
The same court on September 2, 2007, sentenced her to 16 years in jail and fined Tk 4.92 crore in the cases on charge of concealing information about wealth and providing false information in the tax return.