SC stay on bail halts Abbas' release from jail

The Supreme Court yesterday stayed for a week a High Court order that granted bail to BNP leader Mirza Abbas in a corruption case, halting his release from prison.

The Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha issued the order in response to a petition filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The court also asked the ACC to file a leave-to-appeal petition with it against the HC order within a week.

ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said Mirza Abbas was not released due to the SC order.

ACC filed the case against Mirza Abbas, housing and public works minister of a BNP-led four-party alliance government, on March 6, 2014, on charge of causing the state a loss of Tk 16 crore by allocating seven acres of Rajuk's land to a journalists' cooperative society at a rate lower than that in the market. The HC on March 9 granted him bail in the case.