The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will make the decision in a later stage to appeal against a lower court verdict that acquitted BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman in a money laundering case, says anti-graft watchdog Secretary Faizur Rahman.
He made the disclosure while addressing a press conference at his city office on Wednesday.
He said: “We will make the decision in this regard after revising the full text of the verdict.”
Expressing his disappointment, he said: “We had submitted all the necessary information and documents in this case, but the court acquitted him.”
The secretary also said he would examine if there was any negligence on the part of the lawyers affiliated with the ACC.
Tarique Zia, elder son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, was acquitted in a money laundering case. However, his friend and business associate was sentenced to seven years in jail and a Tk400m fine.
In response to the acquittal of police detective Deputy Commissioner Mollah Nazrul Islam from a Tk10m extortion case, Faizur said: “We sued those who were found to be involved.”
The ACC filed a case against two police officials over the extortion of Tk10m on November 13, but the name of Mollah Nazrul was dropped.
While answering questions regarding the alleged Padma bridge graft, the ACC secretary said it was “proving difficult to obtain updates on the case being dealt with in a Canadian court.”
Regarding the “controversial” Anti Corruption Commission (Amended) Act, 2013, he said the commission was undecided on the issue because the office was yet to receive a copy of the law.
“Right now, we are trying to convince authorities to reconsider the law,” he said.
The new jurisdiction in the amended act prohibits the ACC from directly naming a public servant in any case. This drew widespread criticism from both home and abroad.
In the monthly update, the secretary said the commission approved 88 cases against 189 people in September and October for graft. Among the 189, 122 were government officials, 21 were businessman, nine were public representatives and 37 were others.
In the last two months, judgments in 32 cases investigated by the ACC were pronounced while 14 were convicted and 18 were acquitted, Chowdhury added.
A previous chairman of the commission, Ghulam Rahman, said in his departure speech that the ACC was a “toothless tiger” and it had failed to prove itself as a strong institution.
