A Dhaka court on Monday sentenced Redwan Ahmed, former MP of Comilla-7 constituency and general secretary of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), to three years imprisonment in the case of embezzlement of Tk50 lakh from the Muktijoddha Sangsad.
Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge-2 announced the verdict in the afternoon.
Besides, a fine of Tk50 lakh has also been ordered. He was the former minister of state for liberation war affairs in the BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
Besides, the then general secretary of the central command council of the Muktijoddha Sangsad Shah Alam Chowdhury was acquitted as the allegations against him were not proved.
Out of 15 witnesses in the case, 10 testified in court. Sakhawat Hossain Saku, Chandina upazila LDP leader of Comilla and son of Redwan Ahmed's brother, confirmed the matter by quoting ACC lawyer Mir Ahmed Salam.
However, Redwan Ahmed is absconding. The court has already issued an arrest warrant against him.
According to the complaint in the case, 4% of the money that the ministry receives from the market under the LGRD ministry every year is given to the central command council of the Muktijoddha Sangsad to help the poor and unemployed freedom fighters. The amount of which is about Tk5 crore.
There is an account in Sonali Bank Moghbazar branch for depositing the said money. In 2002, the then state minister of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs and the chairman of the central command council of the Muktijoddha Sangsad Redwan Ahmed and the finance secretary of the Muktijoddha Sangsad Shah Alam were accused in the case of embezzling Tk50 lakh from that account while they were still in charge of the money.
On February 15, 2007, freedom fighter Nurul Islam filed the case at Dhaka's Ramna police station. After the investigation on October 8, 2007, ACC Assistant Director Md Abul Hossain accused Redwan Ahmed and also filed a charge sheet against Shah Alam.
A writ petition was filed in the High Court in 2007 challenging the validity of the case on behalf of accused Redwan Ahmed after the charge sheet of the case was filed in the court. On October 25, 2010, the High Court dismissed the application.
The Appellate Division also rejected the appeal against the judgment of the High Court on November 15, 2015. Redwan Ahmed filed a review application in 2016 in this regard in the Appellate Division. However, the Appellate Division upheld the order of the High Court.