HC scraps BNP MP Harun’s appeal against conviction

The High Court on Thursday scrapped an appeal of BNP lawmaker from Chapainawabganj-3 constituency Md Harunur Rashid, challenging a lower court judgement that convicted and sentenced him to five-year rigorous imprisonment in a graft case.

“All three appeals are dismissed. However, sentence is served out,” said the order passed by the High Court division bench of Justice Md Salim.

Dhaka 4th Special Judge Court on October 21, 2019, sentenced the BNP leader to five-year rigorous imprisonment and fined him Tk 50 lakh in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for selling Hummer SUV brought in the country using tax-free facility in 2005. The court had also sentenced co-accused Ishtiaq Sadek to three-year imprisonment and fined him Tk 40 lakh and handed down two-year imprisonment to another accused Md Enayetur Rahman (Bappy) and fined him Tk 1 lakh.

“The High Court on Thursday scrapped appeals of all the three convicts. But they don’t have to go behind bars anymore as their sentences have been served out,” ACC counsel Adv Khurshid Alam Khan told BSS. According to the law, no vehicle brought under tax-free facility can be sold within three-years of import. But the BNP leader sold the vehicle to car trader Sadek, who later sold that to Enayetur.