A vacation bench of the High Court on Tuesday rejected the applications for anticipatory bail by SOM Kalimullah, acting MD of BTCL, and three others, facing charges of misappropriation of huge money through illegal VoIP business, as being not pressed.
An HC division bench comprising Justice M Nizamul Huq and Justice Kashifa Hossain passed the orders following the prayers by the petitioners’ lawyer at the closing stage of hearing on the petitions on surrender before it.
The other three bail petitioners were Nazrul Islam, Asif Zahid Chowdhury and Mashrurul Islam, officials of Ericsson Bangladesh Limited. Advocate ZI Khan Panna appeared for the petitioners while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC). On August 29, the ACC filed four cases with the Banani police station against 22 people, including SOM Kalim Ullah and four former managing directors of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd, for their suspected involvement in illegal voice over internet protocol (VoIP) business. According to the allegations, the accused persons had embezzled about Tk 607 crore through illegal VoIP business in four financial years. – UNB
