Following the High Court verdict signed by the judges on Wednesday, BNP Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku has been ordered to surrender to the court within 15 days of receiving the verdict.
The complete 273-page copy of the High Court verdict upholding the nine-year prison sentence of BNP Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku in a corruption case has been published.
The judges signed the judgment on Wednesday, and it is now available on the Supreme Court's website, confirmed Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik.
On May 30, the High Court bench comprising of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat delivered the verdict. According to the judgment, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku must surrender to the court within 15 days of receiving the verdict.
The case against Tuku, the former state minister for power, was filed on March 21, 2007, at Mohammadpur police station by ACC Deputy Director Shahriar Chowdhury. He was charged with concealing the account and source of income amounting to approximately Tk4,96,11,916.
The charge sheet was filed by the commission's deputy director, SMM Akhtar Hamid Bhuya, in the Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on June 28 of the same year. Subsequently, on November 15, 2007, the trial court sentenced Tuku to nine years in prison.
The sentencing included two years under Section 26(2)(a) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act and seven years under Section 27(1), along with a fine of Tk50 lakh.
Initially, the High Court acquitted him on June 16, 2011, in response to his appeal against the verdict. However, when the ACC appealed against the High Court's judgment, the Appellate Division on January 21, 2014, cancelled the acquittal and ordered a retrial.
Tuku then sought a review of this Appellate Division judgment, which was later dismissed. After re-hearing the appeal in the High Court Division, the verdict was given on May 30, resulting in the upholding of the nine-year prison sentence.
