A Dhaka court on Wednesday handed down three and eight years’ imprisonment respectively to suspended deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Mizanur Rahman and suspended director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Khandaker Enamul Basir in a graft case.
Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of Dhaka’s Fourth Special Judge Court pronounced the verdict in a packed courtroom in the presence of the two convicts.
ACC official Basir was sentenced to three years under Section 161 of the Penal Code for taking Tk40 lakh as bribe from Mizan and five years for laundering the amount.
However, Basir will have to stay imprisoned for five years as the two sentences will run concurrently, said the court
Basir was also fined Tk80 lakh, in default of which he will have to serve six months more in prison.
The court awarded three years’ imprisonment to DIG Mizan for giving the amount to Basir as bribe, said the court.
The time that Mizan and Basir have already spent in jail would be deducted from their sentence, it added
Police escort ex-DIG Mizanur Rahman on the premises of Dhaka's Fourth Special Judge Court court on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 Dhaka TribuneThe court in its verdict said the prosecution was able to prove the charges of an exchange of Tk40 lakh as bribe against the accused and they were given the punishment for committing such offences.
While leaving the courtroom after the court verdict, Mizan, with a big smile, claimed to the media that Enamul Basir had forced him to pay the bribe.
He said: “Basir is not an odd one at ACC, there are more people like Basir there. Find them.”
Mizan also termed the verdict satisfactory, saying that it proved that his allegation was true.
However, since it was a matter of status and since the bribe was not given voluntarily, he would file an appeal against the verdict in the High Court, Mizan said.
After the verdict, ACC public prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajal expressed his satisfaction over the verdict.
Earlier, on February 10, the court set the date for the delivery of the judgment after concluding argument hearings in the much-talked about case.
A total of 12 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case, testified in court in the case.
According to the details of the case, Mizan was withdrawn as additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police on January 9, 2018, following allegations of threatening a female news presenter of a private television channel. He reportedly picked up a 25-year-old woman in July 2017 and forcibly married her.
In May 2019, the ACC launched an inquiry into charges of an amassing of illegal wealth by Mizan. The ACC had tasked its director Basir with the inquiry into Mizan’s wealth.
Police escort ex-ACC director Khandaker Enamul Basir on the premises of Dhaka's Fourth Special Judge Court court on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 Dhaka TribuneLater, a private television channel aired a report in which DIG Mizan alleged that Basir had taken a bribe of Tk40 lakh from him on the promise of clearing him of the corruption charges.
After the report, the ACC formed a three-member committee, led by ACC Secretary Dilwar Bakth, to investigate the incident. The commission suspended Basir after analysing the probe report on June 12.
However, Basir has been denying it and claimed that DIG Mizan had provided an audio record to the TV channel by copying his voice deliberately.
The ACC formed a three-member probe body to find out the authenticity of the bribery-related conversation.
Later, the ACC filed the case with its Integrated District Office in Dhaka against the two over a transaction of Tk40 lakh as bribe on July 16, 2019.
The trial started through a framing of charges against the two accused in the case on March 18 last year.
On January 15 the same year, the ACC submitted a charge sheet against them for their alleged involvement in taking and giving Tk40 lakh as bribe.
Basir was arrested in the capital’s Mirpur area on July 22, 2019 while the High Court on July 1, 2019 handed Mizan over to police after he surrendered before the court, seeking bail in a case filed over amassing over Tk 3 crore illegal wealth.
