SC turndown HC judgment on Tuku’s wealth case

UNB, Dhaka :
The Supreme Court on Monday overruled the High Court order that had squashed the graft case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) acquitting former state minister for power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku during the past BNP rule.
Allowing the leave-to-appeal filed by the ACC, a five-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, asked the High Court to rehear the case.
On June 16, 2011, the HC responding to an appeal filed by Tuku against the trial court conviction and
sentences acquitted him from the graft charge. On November 15, 2007, a special court trying high-profile corruption suspects during the military-backed caretaker government, sentenced Tuku to nine years — 2 years’ simple imprisonment for concealing his wealth and 7 years’ rigorous imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally through abuse of power.
Handing down the sentences, the court had also fined him Tk 50 lakh, in default, to suffer one year more in prison and ordered confiscation of his property worth about Tk 3 crore to the state coffer.
On March 21, 2007, the ACC filed the case with Mohammadpur Police Station accusing Tuku and his family of amassing wealth worth over Tk 5 crore beyond their known sources of income and concealing information about their actual assets.