Bribery case
Hudas jail term commuted to four years
The High Court (HC) yesterday commuted the jail term of former minister Nazmul Huda to four years from seven years in a bribery case filed during the 20072008 military-backed caretaker government rule. It also directed Nazmul Huda to surrender before the trial court within 45 days after receiving a copy of the verdict.
The HC bench, comprising Justice Bhabani Prasad Singha and Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam, also commuted the jail term of Sigma Huda and counted the duration of her jail term as the total conviction period. It said Sigma Hudas sentence would be considered as total conviction period.
Sigma had earlier suffered jail term for some period in connection with the case.
The HC bench gave the verdict after the Appellate Division had assigned it to rehear it with merit.
The Appellate Division had stayed the verdict of another HC bench that had acquitted both Nazmul and Sigma after the Anti Corruption Commission appealed against the verdict.
According to the case statement, Nazmul Huda and his wife advocate Sigma Huda had taken bribes from a businessman.
The prosecution said that Nazmul Huda, an influential leader of the BNP, had forced Mir Akhter Hossain Company to give the bribe and deposited the money in his wifes account.
On August 27, 2007, the special judges court-2 sentenced Nazmul and Sigma to seven and three years of imprisonment, respectively, for accepting a bribe of Tk 2.40 crore from the leading construction firm. Judge AK Roy awarded seven years of rigorous imprisonment to Nazmul Huda and three years of simple imprisonment to his wife Sigma Huda, a lawyer appointed in 2004 as an independent expert on people trafficking by the United Nations.
Nazmul Huda took part in the hearing on behalf of himself and his wife, while advocate Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC.
