Corruption cases against BNP leaders getting new life before JS polls
Gulam Rabbani :
Cases, especially the criminal and corruption cases, filed in different times against BNP leaders and activists are getting new life ahead of the next Jatiya Sangsad elections which may take place in January 2024. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is seen very busy in this regard.
Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan, a counsel of the Anti-Corruption Commission, said the cases are being revived as part of normal legal procedure.
A corruption case filed against BNP Standing Committee Member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy gets new life after a decade, as the High Court cleared way for the trial court to continue the proceedings of the case. The High Court has discharged a rule issued in 2010 over the cancellation of the case filed by the ACC on charge of amassing wealth beyond known source of income.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayar delivered the verdict on November 3 after hearing on the rule. It also vacated the stay order issued upon the trial proceedings of the case and asked the concerned court to dispose of the case expeditiously.
The High Court on November 7 cleared the way for the lower court concerned to resume the trial proceedings of a corruption case against former BNP State Minister Asadul Habib Dulu. The HC lifted the stay order issued by the court 12 years back on the trial proceedings and ordered the lower court to finish the trial of the case within one year.
The same HC bench delivered the verdict after rejecting a petition filed by Asadul Habib seeking to quash the trial proceedings of the case. Anti Corruption Commission filed
the case with Lalmonirhat Police Station on January 21, 2009 against Asadul Habib on charge of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 1.61 crore.
A Dhaka court on November 1 this year issued an arrest warrant against BNP Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Asaduzzaman’s court accepted the charge sheet in the case on that day and passed the warrant order. The court also directed the officer-in-charge of Cantonment Police Station to submit the progress report on the execution of the arrest warrants against them by January 5 next.
According to case details, the ACC filed a case on 26 September, 2007 at the capital’s Kafrul Police Station against Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman and Tariq Rahman’s mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing assets worth Tk 4 crore 81 lakh 53 thousand 561 beyond the declared income and concealing the information of assets and acquiring assets outside the known income.
Meanwhile, the High Court on November 7 extended its earlier orders that granted bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in two defamation cases until disposal of those at the trial courts.
The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the orders after hearing two separate prayers moved by Khaleda Zia’s lawyers.
The defamation cases were filed against Khaleda Zia in Dhaka and Narail on different dates in 2015 and 2016 for her statements over Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Liberation War and number of martyrs on separate occasions.
Apart from this, the Appellate Division and the High Court Division have also cleared way for the lower court concerned to resume the trial proceedings of corruption cases against BNP leaders Mirza Abbas, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Hafiz Ibrahim and others.
Khurshid Alam Khan said, “The cases are being revived as part of normal legal procedure. We know them as accused, not as BNP leaders. They have sought time from the court in the cases. That is why the cases are pending before the court for a long time. We just prayed to the court to vacate the stay orders.”
Barrister Kayser Kamal, Legal Affairs Secretary of the BNP, earlier said that all the cases against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia were filed from political objective. Those cases were judged also politically. Apart from this, the government is reviving the cases filed during the emergency period.
