A Dhaka court has acquitted BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas and 12 others in 15 cases involving alleged irregularities and corruption amounting to Tk127.64 crore in the allocation of 18 abandoned government houses.
Judge Muhammad Kamrul Hasan Khan of Dhaka Special Judge's Court-3 delivered the verdict on Thursday. Mirza Abbas's lawyer Md Shahinur Islam confirmed the matter.
According to court sources, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed 15 separate cases against 21 people, including Mirza Abbas, over the alleged sale of 18 government houses without tenders.
Mirza Abbas and 11 others were accused in all 15 cases.
The ACC filed the cases on March 29, 2007. Following an investigation, charge sheets were submitted, and on September 25 of the same year, the then judge Shahed Nuruddin framed charges against the accused.
According to the charges, Rajuk had invited tenders for 18 abandoned government houses, but the process was allegedly manipulated to allocate the houses at unusually low prices, causing a government loss of Tk1,276,419,059.
The cases alleged that Mirza Abbas, then housing and public works minister, abused his power and exerted illegal influence to approve the sale of the houses through low-priced tenders arranged by Rajuk, despite higher valuations provided by Public Works Department executive engineers.
The accused were charged under Section 409 of the Penal Code, Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and Section 109 of the Penal Code.
According to case documents, the ACC filed the cases with Motijheel police station in March 2007, alleging that the 18 abandoned government houses in prime areas of the capital were sold at abnormally low prices through manipulated tenders during the BNP-Jamaat coalition government.
The charge sheets alleged that the accused benefited financially from the sales and that the government incurred a loss of Tk127.64 crore. The names of 14 additional accused were later included in the charge sheets for allegedly receiving benefits from the transactions.
The 15 cases relate to the allocation of the 18 houses. The ACC has filed seven appeals against High Court verdicts dismissing seven of the cases based on separate petitions by five individuals.
The five are Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, former Rajuk chief engineer Imdadul Islam, Ekom Engineering Company Ltd Managing Director Mehedi Hasan, Hasna Ahmed, wife of Chittagong Awami League leader Afsar Uddin Ahmed, and SM Anwar Hossain.
In addition, Bayrar Ali Haider Chowdhury filed a leave-to-appeal petition challenging the High Court's decision concerning the validity of the case. A hearing was held on the applications, while Ali Haider's leave-to-appeal petition was dismissed.
During the trial, the court recorded testimony from 23 of the 24 prosecution witnesses.
After a lengthy trial, the court acquitted all the accused of the charges on Thursday.