Top court upholds Shahed’s bail, orders quick case settlement

The Appellate Division has upheld the bail order granted by the High Court to Regent Hospital Chairman Mohammad Shahed. He was sentenced to three years in jail in a case of illegal accumulation of wealth.

The top court also ordered the High Court to settle the case in three months. A five-member bench of the Appellate Division led by acting Chief Justice Borhanuddin issued the order on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.

Lawyer Shah Manzurul Haque represented Shahed in the court, while Khurshid Alam Khan was the legal counsel for the Anti-Corruption Commission.

After Shahed was jailed by a trial court in August, he sought a review of the court order and submitted a bail petition.

On Sept 14, Justice Md Akhtaruzzaman granted six months' bail to Shahed and the ACC filed a petition seeking a stay order to the bail.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Shahed, charged with a series of frauds, including fake COVID-19 test reports issued by Regent Hospital, as he was reportedly trying to flee to India by boat on Jul 15, 2020.

He has since been implicated in 31 cases, with the charges ranging from fraudulence, possession of illegal arms, and involvement in the drug trade. His accomplices were also named in the cases.

The anti-graft commission asked Shahed to submit his asset declarations within 21 days on Nov 5, 2020. The commission extended the deadline by 15 days after Shahed failed to submit his accounts.

The commission later launched a probe against the Regent Hospital boss and brought an allegation against him of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 16.9 million.

The ACC started a case against Shahed over illegal wealth in 2021. The court opened the trial in the case after Shahed was indicted in 2022. All 10 witnesses in the case testified at different times.

Shahed was named in other cases as well. Special Tribunal-1 Judge KM Imrul Kayes sentenced Shahed to life imprisonment in a case related to the illegal possession of firearms on Sept 28, 2020.