SC rejects bail of Hall-Mark chairman

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected the High Court (HC) order granting ad-interim bail for four weeks to Hall-Mark Group chairman Jesmin Islam in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission for not submitting wealth statement. A five-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, passed the order after granting the appeal of ACC. Defense lawyer Rafiqe-Ul-Haque and ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam were present at that time. Khurshid Alam said there is no legal bar to conducting next proceedings of the case as the Appellate Division rejected the HC order. On January 19, the HC granted ad-interim bail for four weeks to the Hall-Mark Group chairman. On November 13 last year, the ACC sent a notice to Jesmin Islam for submitting wealth statement within seven days, but she sought three months’ time for this. On November 24, the graft watchdog asked her to summit the wealth statement within a week. As she did not comply with the order, ACC deputy director Mohammad Joynal Abedin filed a case against Hall-Mark group chairman Jesmin Islam with Ramna police station on December 12, according to UNB.