ACC goes to HC seeking cancellation of Samrat’s bail

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday filed an appeal petition before the High Court seeking cancellation of the bail given expelled Jubo League leader Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat in a money laundering case.

Advocate Khurshid Alam, a counsel of ACC, filled the petition after taking permission from the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat.

On August 22, Judge Asad Md Asifuzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-6 granted bail to Samrat in a money laundering case.

The court granted him bail till September 19 considering his poor health condition on a Tk10,000 bond.

With this, Samrat has secured bail in four cases and there is no legal bar to his release, said his lawyer Ehsanul Haque Samazi.

The judge also asked him to submit his passport to the court as his bail condition, and he has to take court permission to go abroad.

Samrat secured bail in a drugs case on April 11 and in an Arms Act case and a money laundering case on April 10.

The expelled Jubo League leader was under treatment at the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital from November 24 last year.

In October 2019, RAB detained Samrat and his associate Enamul Haque Arman from Chauddagram in Comilla.

RAB raided his Kakrail office the next day. Huge quantities of foreign liquor, pistols, and two hides of kangaroo were seized from his office.

He was later sentenced by a mobile court to six months in prison under the Wildlife Conservation Act.

Abdul Khaleque, deputy assistant director of RAB-1 lodged two complaints against Samrat at Ramna police station under the Arms and the Narcotics Acts. Arman was also made an accused in the narcotics case.

Shekhar Chandra Mallik, a sub-inspector, submitted a charge sheet against Samrat in the Arms Act case.

ACC lodged a complaint against him for acquiring assets worth Tk2.94 crore beyond his known sources of income.

Rashedur Rahman, sub-inspector of CID, registered a case against him at the Ramna police station for laundering Tk195 crore to Malaysia and Singapore. 

Last November, the investigating officer in the case submitted a charge sheet in court.