The appellate division today upheld a High Court verdict that cleared way for a lower court to run trial against BNP leader Abdullah Al Noman in a graft case.

A four-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha rejected an appeal filed by the BNP vice-chairman challenging the HC verdict.

The then Bureau of Anti-Corruption Commission (now defunct) filed the case with Dhanmondi Police Station on August 19, 1998 against Noman for not submitting his wealth statement before it.

The bureau had issued the notice on October 26, 1997 asking him Noman to submit his wealth statement in 45 days. The bureau submitted charge sheet against Noman on May 30, 2000.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) took over the case for its proceedings after the Bureau of Anti-Corruption Commission was abolished in November 2004.

The Divisional Special Judges' Court in Dhaka framed charges against Noman in the case on February 2, 2009. Then Noman filed a petition with the HC challenging the charge framing order, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

He said the HC on January 24, 2013 rejected his petition. Then Noman filed a leave-to-appeal petition with the SC on March 27, 2013 challenging the HC verdict.

Today, the Appellate Division rejected the leave-to-appeal petition considering that it was not submitted properly, the lawyer said.

Khan further said that now there is no legal bar to resume the trial proceedings against the BNP leader following the SC order.