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Hall-mark Boss

SC questions HC bail order

Ashutosh Sarkar
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has come down heavily on a High Court bench for "not properly exercising its discretion and not assigning any reason" in granting anticipatory bail to Hall-Mark group Chairman Jasmine Islam in a corruption case.
“We have repeatedly held that it is an extra-ordinary remedy and an exception to the general rule of bail which can be granted only in extra-ordinary and exceptional circumstances upon a proper and intelligent exercise of discretion. This being the position of law settled by this Division, the High Court Division cannot exercise its discretion whimsically at its sweet will," said an Appellate Division bench in its full order released on December 4.
The Daily Star has obtained a copy of the order.
In the order, the apex court said, "The High Court Division exercised its discretionary power without assigning any reason whatsoever. It [HC] simply said that it found prima-facie case in favour of the accused-respondent (Jasmine). This is not a legal ground for exercising the power."
"We have given a cursory glance to the application for pre-arrest bail. The grounds are also not relevant for the purpose of exercising discretion in the
case. More so, the case having been filed by the Durnity Daman Commission |Anti-Corruption Commission) in exercise of its power under Act of2004, the Durnity Daman Commission is a necessary part but the accused-respondent has not made it a party."
"Considering the above, we find that the High Court Division has not properly exercised its discretion in granting the accused-respondent an anticipatory bail," the Appellate Division said.
An HC bench on January 19 this year granted anticipatory bail for a month to Jasmine Islam, chairman of controversial Hall Mark Group, in the case filed by the ACC on December 12 last year with Ramna Police Station for not submitting her wealth statement.
But a five-member bench of the
Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain, scrapped the HC order on February 10, following an appeal by the commission.
Four other judges of the bench are Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, Justice Hasan Foez Siddique and Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik.
Earlier in February this year, the Appellate Division had expressed disappointment at the same HC bench for "failure to follow its guidelines" in granting anticipatory bail to BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain in a money laundering case.
ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that Jasmine was not on bail or in jail in connection with the corruption case following the SC order.
Jasmine is now a fugitive in the eye of law, since she did not surrender to the lower court after the SC cancelled the HC order that granted anticipatory bail to her, he said, adding that the ACC and law enforcers can now arrest her in connection with this case.
Hall-Mark is one of the six companies which have taken Tk 3,547 crore in loan from the state-run Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch in connivance with its officials, using forged documents.
Previously a little known group, Hall-Mark alone has taken around Ik 2,600 crore, says a Bangladesh Bank investigation report.
On November 13 last year, the ACC served a notice on Jasmine, asking her to submit her wealth statement within seven working days. Instead of submit-
ting the statement, she sought three months' time from the commission on November 24.
Before that, a Dhaka court in August granted bail to Jasmine in 11 loan scam cases after she had pledged to pay Tk 100 crore every month to return the Tk 2,600 crore her company owed to the Sonali Bank.
On January 27 this year, the HC upheld her bail in these cases but declared illegal the condition on which theDhakacourthad ordered the bail.
The ACC filed the 11 cases against 27 top officials of the Sonali Bank and Hall-Mark on October 4, 2012 on charge of their involvement in the biggest financial scam in the country.
Tanvir Mahmud, managing director of the group and the suspected mastermind, is now behind bars.