HC refuses bail to 17 Biman officials, orders them to surrender

The High Court yesterday refused to grant bail to 17 officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in a Tk 1,161 crore corruption case.

The HC also ordered the accused officials to surrender before the lower court concerned in three weeks in connection with the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order after hearing two separate petitions filed by the 17 accused Biman officials seeking anticipatory bail in the case.

Earlier in the day, the accused Biman officials appeared before the HC bench for bail.

ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the HC refused to grant bail to the accused Biman officials considering the gravity of their offences.

He said the ACC filed the case against them for embezzling Tk 1,161 crore by committing irregularities in purchasing aircraft from Egypt.

Lawyer ARM Hasanuzzaman appeared for accused the bail petitioners during the hearing of the bail petitions.

Earlier on February 6, the ACC filed a case against 23 people including the former flight captain (operation) of the state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Ishrat Ahmed, for causing financial loss to the national flag carrier.