HC bail of Latif Siddique upheld; no bar to walk out of jail

The Supreme Court (SC) today upheld a High Court order that granted bail to former textiles and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddique in a corruption case, clearing the way for him to walk out of jail.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after dismissing a leave-to-appeal petition filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) challenging the HC order.

There is no legal bar for Latif Siddique to get released from the prison following the SC’s order, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

On November 4, the High Court granted a six-month bail to the former minister in the graft case filed on charge of misuse of power in selling a government property.

The High Court today granted six-month bail to former textiles and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddique in a corruption case, filed on charge of misuse of power in selling a government property.

According to the case statement, one Jahanara Rashid leased a piece of land in Adamdighi upazila, owned by Bangladesh Jute Corporation, for three years at Tk 1.2 lakh per year on May 13, 2010.

In spite of getting repeated order from the textiles and jute ministry to pay rent for the land, Jahanara applied to the ministry to purchase the land on November 13, 2011.

Later, then textiles and jute minister Latif Siddique, without floating any formal tender, sold the land to Jahanara at Tk 23.94 lakh although its market price was Tk 64.63 lakh, resulting in a loss of Tk 40.69 lakh.

Following the incident, the ACC filed the case against Latif and Jahanara under the Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act-1947.