Ex-minister Shamsul Islam freed on bail
Former BNP minister M Shamsul Islam was released from prison on bail in the Gatco corruption case yesterday.
He emerged from Dhaka Central Jail at 12:20pm, jailer Faruk Ahamed said.
Earlier on Monday, the High Court granted two months' bail to him and former BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan. Bhuiyan was freed on Wednesday.
They were sent to jail after their surrender to a Dhaka court on May 18 in connection with the case.
Shamsul told reporters at the jail gate that he was feeling good to be out of jail, adding that it would give him more pleasure if all political prisoners, including his party Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her elder son Tarique Rahman, were also released.
He said the Gatco corruption case was a bid to harass them politically and tarnish their image.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the graft case against 13 people, including Khaleda, her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and Shamsul, on September 2 last year on charges of corruption in awarding container-handling work to Global Agro Trade (Private) Company Ltd (Gatco).
The commission on May 13 pressed charges against 25 people.
Koko was earlier set free on parole for overseas treatment. Two more accused, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and BNP leader MK Anwar, are also now out on bail.
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