The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has exempted 27 people, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in connection with three Bangabandhu Novo Theatre graft cases.
ACC Chairman M Bodiuzzaman disclosed this information to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday afternoon.
All of the accused in the cases were exempted on January 22, he said.
“During the investigation, no evidence was found against the accused, which includes the PM,” said the ACC chairman.
Bodiuzzaman also said: “The cases were dismissed and the accused were acquitted through Final Report True (FRT).”
ACC Deputy Director Manjur Morshed, the investigation officer of the graft case, submitted the report to court last week.
The charges against the accused were described as groundless in the report, a senior official of the commission, wishing anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune.
Hasina was made the prime accused in the three cases, filed by the now-defunct Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) with Tejgaon police station on March 27, 2002, by then ACB Inspector Mohammad Ibrahim and Anti Corruption Officer M Mizanul Islam.
Sheikh Hasina and a few of her cabinet colleagues in the AL-led government of 1996-2001 were charged for corruption, and for irregularities in handling the project to set up the Bangabandhu Novo Theatre, by allegedly approving an increase in project cost for the construction of the Novo Theatre without the approval of a majority of members on the executive committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) and giving illegal benefits to the construction firm of the Novo Theatre, which incurred losses of Tk52 crore to the state exchequer.
The project was established by the Ministry of Science and Information Communication Technology with an expenditure of over Tk123 crore, provided entirely from state coffers.
The cases were shifted to the ACC from the ACB on August 24, 2005.
The first ACC chairman, Justice Sultan Hossain Khan, then ordered Investigation Officer Mizanul Islam to complete the investigation process as quickly as possible.
On October 27, 2005, upon Hasina’s petition, the High Court stayed the operation of the approval given by the then ACC chairman for the investigation into the three corruption cases against Sheikh Hasina.
The HC also asked the ACC and the then-government to show cause as to why the ACC chairman’s approval of investigation and the filing of the charge sheet by an anti-corruption officer should not be declared illegal at the time, the media had reported.
On March 4, 2010, the High Court quashed all proceedings against then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in three corruption cases regarding the Novo Theatre graft cases and also declared the filing and proceedings of the cases illegal.
At the time, the HC in its judgement termed the filling of the cases as motive to tarnish Hasina’s image, status, and popularity, media reports stated.
The cases also did not mention any offence against Sheikh Hasina under the penal code in the First Information Reports, said the HC verdict.
The judgement of the High Court also termed the then-ACC chairman’s approval illegal, as the chairman alone had taken the decision.
Referring to Article 35 (2) of the constitution, the HC verdict also said a series of cases cannot be initiated against any person for an offence of the same nature.
After the HC quashed all of the cases against the PM, the three cases were sent to a department that dealt with unresolved cases, as they had been filed by the ACB. However, after the ACC decided to resolve pending ACB cases, Deputy Director Manjur Morshed was appointed as the investigation officer.
After investigating the three graft cases, the investigation officer recommended to the commission in December last year to acquit the 27 accused.
After the commission justified the investigation officer’s report, it gave its approval for acquittal.
In these three cases, the former opposition leader and current prime minister is the prime accused. In each respective case, there are 7, 8, and 12 other accused persons, of whom a majority were Ecnec members.
Among these accused, former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria and education minister AHK Sadeque have since passed away, and among the remainder, Tofail Ahmed, Motia Chowdhury, and Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir were cleared from the court, said an ACC official.