Hasnat Abdullah, Rashidi Suza, Khodeja Suza get bail

The High Court (HC) yesterday granted bail to former chief whip Abul Hasnat Abdullah, and former Awami League lawmaker Mostafa Rashidi Suza and his wife Khodeja Rashidi Suza in five separate cases against them.
Abul Hasnat Abdullah got bail in four cases, while Suza couple got bail in a case. They were earlier convicted and sentenced to jail for different terms in absentia in these cases.
Upon separate appeals filed by the convicts against their convictions, the HC bench of Justice MA Wahhab Miah and Justice Md Abdur Razzak passed the bail orders.
Petitioners' counsel Advocate SM Rezaul Karim told The Daily Star that the bail orders of his clients will remain valid until disposal of their appeals.
He also said there is no bar to his clients' release from jail following the HC orders, since they are not arrested in any other case.
On June 21, Judge AK Roy of the Special Court-2 sent Abul Hasnat Abdullah to jail after he surrendered before the court in a tax evasion case in which he was earlier sentenced to nine years' imprisonment in absentia.
On December 12, 2007, the same court sentenced Hasnat to nine years' imprisonment for dodging Tk 37.47 lakh income tax between 2001-02 and 2006-07.
A Barisal divisional special judge's court in 2008 sentenced Hasnat to 14 years in jail in two cases regarding freedom fighter certificate fraud and illegal cash hoarding.
On March 3 last year, he was given 13 years' imprisonment in a case filed against him for amassing wealth through illegal means and concealing wealth in the statement submitted to the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC).
The trial court earlier sentenced Suza to 10 years and his wife Khodeja to three years in a corruption case filed by the ACC.
The cases were filed against them on charges of accumulating illegal wealth and suppressing wealth information to ACC. Khodeja was charged for abetting her husband in amassing illegal wealth.
The couple was sent to jail after they surrendered to the trial court in connection with the case on June 22.
Advocate Abdul Baset Majumder appeared for them.