Judge (In Charge) Kamrul Hossain Mollah of the First Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka did not pass any order about Ershad's surrender before it to serve out his conviction delivered by the HC on December 14 last year.

The judge asked the court staff to place it before the presiding officer (PO) Judge Amirul Islam today when the judgement copy was submitted yesterday for taking next steps.

Justice Faisal Mahmud Faizee of the single-member HC bench on December 14 handed two years' imprisonment to Ershad, rejecting his appeal against the trial court's verdict.

HM Ershad, who usurped power through a bloodless coup in March 1982 and was deposed in December 1990, was found guilty of misappropriating Tk 33 crore in a shady deal for purchasing 520 Japanese boats and 10 water-purifying machines for relief operation in 1989.

Judge Jinnatara of the trial court sentenced Ershad to three years' imprisonment on July 6, 1995. The court also fined him Tk10,000, in default, to serve four months more in jail.

Ershad filed an appeal with the HC against the lower court verdict the same year.