Present:

Mr. Justice Md. Shohrowardi

Mr. Md. Ruhul Quddus(Kazal), Senior Advocate with Ms. Fahriya Ferdous, Advocate

........For the appellant petitioner. Ms. Chowdhury Nasima, Advocate

….For the respondent No. 2(ACC)

Mr. Shahidul Islam, AAG with Ms. Sharmin Hamid, AAG 

……..For the State

19.11.2024

This is an application for bail in pending appeal filed against the judgment and order of conviction and sentence dated 26.09.2023 passed by Special Judge (Senior District and Sessions Judge), Faridpur in Special Case No. 01 of 2019 arising out of Faridpur Kotwali Police Station Case No. 53 dated 24.05.2017 corresponding G. R.  Case No. 266 of 2017 convicting the appellant under sections 2(Ga), 2(Za), 2(Sha), 1 and 2 (Fa) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 and sentencing him under section 4(2) of the said Act to suffer imprisonment for 5 (five) years and to pay a fine of Tk. (48,50,000+48,50,000)= 97,00,000/- (ninety-seven lakh), in default, to suffer imprisonment for 6 (six) months more.

The learned Senior Advocate Mr. Md. Ruhul Quddus appearing on behalf of the appellant petitioner submits that there is no allegation against the appellant petitioner that he received bribe from any particular affected person of the LA case. The only allegation against the appellant petitioner is  that  he  deposited  Tk.  48,50,000  in  cash  in  his  Account  No. 04734000570 maintained with Bank Asia Limited, Faridpur Branch from 28.02.2013  to  24.04.2013  and  he  withdrew  Tk.  25,00,000(twenty  five lakh) from his account. He also submits that the appellant petitioner has been languishing in custody since the pronouncement of the impugned judgment and order dated 27.09.2023. Therefore, he prayed for the bail of the appellant petitioner.

The  learned  Advocate  Ms.  Chowdhury  Nasima  appearing  on behalf of respondent No. 2 (ACC) submits that the appellant petitioner deposited the money in his account received as a bribe from the fake owners of the acquired land owned by the government. Therefore, he committed offence under sections 2(Ga), 2(Ja), 2(Sha)(1), and 2 (Fa) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012. She prayed for the rejecting the bail application.

I have considered the submission of the learned Advocate Mr. Md. Ruhul Quddus who appeared on behalf of the appellant petitioner and the learned Advocate Ms. Chowdhury Nasima who appeared on behalf of respondent  No.  2(ACC),  perused  the  application  for  bail,  evidence, impugned judgment and order passed by the trial court and the records.

It appears that the appeal is not ready for hearing. In the meantime, the  appellant  petitioner  served  in  custody  for  about  01(one)  year  and 2(two)  months  and  there  is  no  early  prospect  of  hearing  the  appeal. Considering the nature of the allegation and the custody of the appellant petitioner  I  am  inclined  to  enlarge  the  appellant  petitioner  on  bail  in pending appeal.

Pending  hearing  of  the  appeal,  let  the  appellant  petitioner Mohammad Shahriar Motin, son of Abdul Motin, be enlarged on bail for 6 (six) months from the date subject to the satisfaction of the Special Judge (Senior District and Sessions Judge), Faridpur.