The High Court (HC) yesterday granted bail to nine high-profile prisoners, including seven politicians, on different terms and stayed the graft case against Awami League leader Abdul Jalil.
The politicians who got bail are former law minister Moudud Ahmed, former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, former state ministers Prof Rafiqul Islam, Amanullah Aman, Fazlur Rahman Patal, former BNP whip Shahidul Haq Jamal and former lawmaker Mohammad Shahjahan.
Industrialists Beximco Group Vice-Chairman Salman F Rahman and HRC Group Chairman Syed Hossain Chowdhury also got bail.
A two-member HC bench comprising Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice M Emdadul Haque Azad passed the bail orders.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday upheld 61 different HC orders that granted bails and stayed proceedings of 40 graft cases filed against politicians and businessmen including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko.
The five-member full bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin passed the orders following appeals against the HC orders filed on different dates by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The other accused in these cases include Khaleda's Political Adviser Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, former communications minister Nazmul Huda, former BNP lawmaker Mosaddak Ali Falu, former deputy minister for land Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, Dhaka City Corporation Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, former Barisal City Corporation mayor Mojibur Rahman Sarwar, former AL lawmaker Mostafa Kamal alias Lotus Kamal, former BNP lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim, Jamuna Group Chairman Nurul Islam Babul, Salman F Rahman, Proshika chief Kazi Faruqe Ahmed and Janakantha Editor Atiq Ullah Khan Masud.
Also yesterday, former whip and reformist BNP leader Syed Ashraf Hossain was freed from Dhaka Central Jail in the evening. Jail officials said he was freed following an HC order dated August 13.
The two-member HC bench granted Moudud three months' bail in the Niko graft case and a case for amassing money illegally. It gave four months' bail to Khandaker Mosharraf in a tax evasion case filed by the National Board of Revenue.
The HC stayed for two months the proceedings of the case filed against Jalil for amassing illegal wealth. It also issued a notice on the ACC and the government to show cause in four weeks why the proceedings would not be cancelled.
In the case, barrister Shafiq Ahmed appeared for Jalil who is now undergoing treatment in Singapore.
Salman F Rahman was given bail for six months in a case filed for embezzling money of the IFIC Bank. Syed Chowdhury was also given six months' bail in the money-laundering case.
The same bench gave three months' bail to former state minister Rafiqul Islam in the Niko graft case and a case filed for amassing illegal assets. Proceedings of the two cases were also stayed for three months.
Aman, Patal and Shahjahan were each given three months' bail while Shahidul Haq Jamal was granted a four-month bail. Aman got bail in four graft cases.
A total of 61 cases were on the list for hearing yesterday. Of them, 54 cases are filed against the VIPs.
The 61 cases also include those against Syeda Nasima Sarwar, Tasmima Hossain, Momtaz Ahmed, Rozina Naser, Nasrin Khan, Shamim Ara Begum, Shama Shajnin Khan, Shamima Begum, Shamima Akhter, Rita Ismat Ara, Sultana Hashem, Akhter Jahan Rubi, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain's son Khandaker Akhter Hamid, and Roads and highways Department engineer Abdul Kamal Shamsuddin.
A total of 50 such cases are on the list for hearing today. The ACC has filed petitions against 35 of these cases and the government filed petitions against three.
The petitions of former ministers Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, M Shamsul Islam, engineer Mosharraf Hossain, Redwan Ahmed, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Falu, MA Hashem, Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, Mostafa Kamal, Mojibur Rahman Sarwar, Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, Mirza Azam and a few others are supposed to be heard today.