DHAKA, Dec 14: The High Court of Bangladesh on Thursday jailed former military ruler Hussain Mohammad Ershad for two years in a decade-old criminal case related to purchase of more than 500 Japanese boats.

A single-judge bench comprising Justice Faisal Mahmud Faizee passed the order, dismissing his appeal against the trial court verdict that had sentenced him to three years imprisonment with a fine of Tk10,000.

The High Court upheld the trial court's judgment, but reduced the prison term by a year, which means he will have to suffer in jail for two years.

“The appeal is dismissed and the sentence is reduced from three to two years,” Justice Faizee pronounced in the judgment.

Mr Ershad, who usurped power in a bloodless coup in March 1982 and had ruled the country for nearly nine years with an iron hand, was found guilty of misappropriating Tk330 million in a shady deal for buying 520 Japanese boats and 10 water purification machines in 1989 for relief operation.

On July 6, 1995, a court of divisional special sessions judge found Mr Ershad guilty and sentenced him to three years imprisonment in the much-talked-about Japanese boat purchase case.

Emerging from the court, Ershad’s lawyer Barrister Azmalul Hossain said they would go to the Supreme Court to file an appeal against the High Court’s orders.

Legal experts say if the Supreme Court does not admit his planned leave-to-appeal application for overturning the high court verdict, Mr Ershad, chairman of the Jatiya Party, will not be eligible for contesting the general election being held next month.

They argue that the Constitution of Bangladesh bars a person from contesting election as Member of Parliament who has been on conviction for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years.