Cuttack: In the much talked about ORHDC loan fraud case Barabati Cuttack MLA Mohammad Moquim has been given bail by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
But it is worth mentioning here that, Mohammad Moquim cannot contest the election this time said reports. The Supreme Court put a stop on the arrest but not on the prosecution. Moquim had been sentenced by the Bhubaneswar special vigilance court in the OHDC case.
However on hearing the matter today, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the sentence, but the stay was not continued on the conviction. So Muhammad Moquim cannot submit nomination papers or fight the elections.
Senior Congress leader Mohammed Moquim has moved the Orissa High Court seeking interim protection from being arrest in Odisha Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) loan scam case.
According to reports, the Senior Congress leader has applied for one month of interim protection from the top court of the State. It is to be noted here that High Court had on April 10 dismissed his appeal against his conviction by a Special Vigilance Court in Bhubaneswar and upheld the lower court’s verdict of three years jail term in 2002 for being involved in fraudulently obtaining a loan of over Rs 1 crore twice from the ORHDC.
Apart from sentencing Moquim to a 3-year jail term, the Special Vigilance Court had also sentenced 3-year jail term to dismissed IAS officer Vinod Kumar, ORHDC company secretary Swosti Ranjan Mohapatra, and director of Metro Builders Peeyush Mohanty in the loan fraud case. Besides, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of them.
Metro Builders Private Limited had reportedly taken a loan of Rs 1.5 crore from ORHDC on June 24, 2000 to construct flats in Nayapalli are of Bhubaneswar. However, the company did not repay the loan. Moquim was the Managing Director of the company when the scam took place following an alleged undue favour by the IAS officer to the builder.
Ms Kalinga