Recently, the Orissa High Court affirmed the decision of the lower court, which had sentenced Md. Moquim, a senior Congress MLA representing Cuttack-Barabati, to three years in prison. This ruling pertains to his involvement in the highly-discussed corruption case involving the Odisha Rural Housing and Development Corporation Limited (ORHDC).

The recent development has sparked concerns regarding Moquim's political prospects leading up to the 2024 elections.

The Odisha vigilance, in a release, said: “The High Court, Orissa, has upheld the judgement of conviction passed by Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar against Md. Moquim, managing director, M/s Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd. in the vigilance corruption case. It has dismissed the appeal filed by Moquim.”

On September 29, 2022, the vigilance announced that Md. Moquim had been convicted by the special judge, vigilance, Bhubaneswar. He was found guilty of obtaining financial benefits for his company, M/s. Metro Builders Pvt. Ltd., under the pretense of loans intended for rural development through ORHDC.

According to sources, ORHDC had approved loans amounting to Rs 1.5 crore to Metro Builders in 2000-2001 for a project involving the construction of 50 flats. However, Metro Builders obtained these loans by submitting forged and falsified documents. Notably, no tripartite agreement was established between the involved parties. This criminal collusion resulted in significant losses to the state Treasury while benefiting the builder through illicit means.

Moquim was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 3 years and to pay a fine of Rs 50,000, and in default of payment of the fine, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for a period of another six months. However, the MLA soon got interim bail from Orissa High Court on a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with two sureties

The vigilance said the convict Md. Moquim had moved the high court against the conviction order. “Today the Hon’ble High Court dismissed the appeal filed by Md. Moquim, upheld the conviction and sentence passed by the lower Court.”

The court had previously handed down sentences to Vinod Kumar, the former managing director of ORHDC, as well as several other employees, in relation to this matter.