Abbas, Khasru acquitted in ACC corruption cases

A Dhaka court has acquitted BNP Standing Committee member and Prime Minister’s Political Adviser Mirza Abbas and Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury in corruption cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 Judge Mohammad Kamrul Hasan Khan delivered the verdict on Thursday.

Mirza Abbas was acquitted in 15 separate cases, while Amir Khasru was acquitted in one case.

Mirza Abbas’s lawyer, Mahyuddin Chowdhury, confirmed the matter.
In the 15 cases involving Mirza Abbas, 12 people were accused. The court acquitted all the accused, including the BNP leader.

In the case involving Amir Khasru, several others were also accused, including businessman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan. The court acquitted all the accused in their respective cases.

Allegations over 18 abandoned houses
According to the case documents, the allegations relate to the period of the four-party alliance government, when 18 government-owned abandoned houses were allegedly allotted to preferred individuals through manipulated tenders and irregularities involving RAJUK.

The accused were alleged to have benefited from the irregularities, causing a loss of Tk 127.64 crore to the government.

The ACC filed 15 separate cases on March 29, 2007 in connection with the alleged irregularities.

After completing investigations, the ACC submitted charge sheets against the accused. The court framed charges in the cases on September 25, 2007.

During the trial, the court recorded statements from 23 of the 24 prosecution witnesses before delivering the verdict.