The Appellate Division yesterday said the High Court had not applied all its judicial mind in acquitting Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya from corruption charges.
“It [High Court] did not at all assess the evidence on record although the special judge on assessment of the evidence convicted the respondent [Maya],” the full judgement released yesterday says.
The tow-page full text also said that the High Court shall dispose of the appeal on merit.
A three-member Appellate Division bench chaired by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha had delivered the short verdict on an appeal moved by the Anti-Corruption Commission on June14. The court also sent Maya’s appeal to the High Court for its rehearing and fresh disposal.
City Awami League general secretary Maya was sentenced to 13 years in prison in the case, filed during the military-backed caretaker government for amassing illegal wealth.
Following the release of the full verdict, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told reporters yesterday that Maya’s parliament membership should be void as per article 66 of the constitution.
“The issue should be discussed inside and outside parliament. After this order, he should not remain a minister any more,” he said.
However, Maya’s lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder said his parliament membership or the minister post would not be declared void since the case is now under trial.
Maya became a minister after the Awami League-led government took office in January last year.
He, however, came into limelight after his son-in-law Lt Col Tarek Sayeed Chowdhury, the sacked commander of RAB 11, was found involved in the sensational seven murders in Narayanganj in April last year.
Maya and six others of his family were sued on June 13, 2007, and the charges were pressed on October 25 against five of them. A special court issued arrest warrant against him on October 29. Trial proceedings began with the indictment of the accused on November 27 the same year.
According to the charge sheet, the accused amassed Tk2.97 crore in assets beyond their stated income, through corrupt means, when Maya served as state minister for shipping, concealing information on wealth of Tk5.86 crore and keeping under possession properties worth Tk6.29 crore.
A special court tried him in absentia and on February 14, 2008 sentenced him to 13 years in prison, fined Tk5 crore and also ordered the authorities concerned to confiscate his properties worth Tk5.9 crore amassed illegally.
The court, however, acquitted Maya’s wife Parveen Chowdhury, two sons Sajedul Hossain Chowdhury and Rashedul Hossain Chowdhury, and Sajed’s wife Subarna Chowdhury.
Maya was sent to jail upon his surrender before a Dhaka court on May 20, 2009. He filed a petition with the High Court challenging the sentence on May 25.
Following his appeal, the High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore on October 27, 2010 scrapped the lower court judgement and acquitted Maya of the corruption case.
The ACC in 2011 appealed to the Supreme Court to scrap the High Court’s verdict.
