New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India today gave relief to Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim in the ORHDC loan fraud case.
The Apex Court suspended the sentence of Moquim in the Orissa Rural Housing Development Corporation (ORHDC) loan fraud matter. However, the SC declined to grant a stay on the conviction of Moquim.
The sentence of rigorous imprisonment for a period of 3 years and fine was stayed until disposal of Special Leave Petition (SLP) of Moquim, official sources said.
The senior Congress leader had approached the Apex Court against the Orissa High Court’s order affirming his three-year sentence by the Special Judge (Vigilance), Bhubaneswar, in 2022.
On September 29, 2022, the special judge vigilance, Bhubaneswar had convicted Moquim, who was acting as managing director of Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd. along with IAS officer Vinod Kumar and others for obtaining pecuniary advantage in favour of the real-estate firm in guise of loans meant for rural poor from state-run Odisha Rural Housing & Development Corporation Ltd (ORHDC), Odisha Vigilance said in a statement.
The Top Court had sentenced Shri Moquim to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs 50,000, in default, he has to undergo further imprisonment for a period of six months, it said.
However, soon after the judgment, convict Moquim had moved the high court against the conviction order of the lower court. Then, the HC dismissed the appeal of the Congress MLA from Cuttack-Barabati and upheld the conviction and sentence passed by the lower court, they said.
Today, the SLP of Shri Moquim was heard by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
After hearing both sides, the appeal of Md. Moquim’s stay on his conviction was not granted by the Supreme Court. However, the court suspended the sentence till disposal of SLP.