Faulty EgyptAir lease: 3 including ex-justice Mesbah Uddin surrender in court, secure bail
Eleven former and current Biman engineers and officials, who are accused in the case, are currently out on bail.
A Dhaka court today (12 November) granted bail to former justice AFM Mesbah Uddin and two others after they surrendered in court in a case over the leasing of two faulty Egyptian aircraft by Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which reportedly caused the government a loss of Tk741 crore.
The other two are former Biman board chairman Air Marshal Jamal Uddin Ahmed and former director Fazle Kabir.
Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Sabbir Foyez gave the order during a hearing after the trio came to court and surrendered, confirmed Court bench assistant Md Riaz Hossain.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Earlier, the court accepted the charge sheet in the case on 5 November against 18 people, including Mesbah and Biman officials. That day, arrest warrants were issued against Mesbah and six other accused.
The others still facing arrest warrants are former directors Khorshed Alam Chowdhury, Air Vice Marshal Abu Esrar, and Maj Gen Abul Hossain, and Dhaka University Prof Iqbal Ahmed.
Eleven former and current Biman engineers and officials, who are accused in the case, are currently out on bail.
The case was filed by then Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Jesmin Akhter on 6 February 2023.
After completing the investigation, ACC Deputy Director Anwarul Haque submitted the charge sheet, initially naming 16 accused — including former Biman managing director and CEO Kevin John Steele, who has since passed away. Following further investigation, the ACC accused seven additional individuals, bringing the total to 22.
According to the charge sheet, Biman leased two Boeing 777-200ER aircraft from EgyptAir in 2014 under a five-year agreement.
In February 2015, one aircraft's engine malfunctioned soon after operations began. To keep the aircraft functional, another engine was leased from EgyptAir. Within one and a half years, the second engine also failed, prompting Biman to lease another engine from the same source. That engine too broke down and was sent to a US company for repairs, resulting in additional payments to both EgyptAir and the repair firm.
The charge sheet states that the deal ultimately caused a financial loss of Tk741 crore to the state exchequer.
