SC again scraps Maya's acquittal in graft case

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld its earlier order of scrapping the High Court's acquittal of Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya in a corruption case that sentenced him to 13 years' of imprisonment.

 A four-member bench of the SC Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha came up with the order following Maya's review petition and asked the HC to dispose of his appeal.

The Anti Corruption Commission filed the case against him on June 13, 2007, on charge of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 29 lakh and concealing information about it.

A special judge's court in Dhaka on February 14, 2008, convicted Maya and sentenced him to imprisonment, fined him Tk 5 crore and ordered confiscation of about Tk 6 crore of his ill-gotten wealth.

The HC on October 27, 2010, acquitted him of the charges, which the Appellate Division on June 14 last year scrapped and asked the HC to rehear his appeal for final disposal.

The SC yesterday rejected the petition as Maya's lawyer Abdul Baset Majumder said that his client will not move the petition, Khurshid Alam Khan, ACC's lawyer, told The Daily Star.

He said Maya's jail sentence is under challenge, as the SC has asked the HC to hold further hearing.

The HC will now finally decide whether the lower court had delivered the judgment on Maya rightly, he said, adding, Maya will remain on bail until the HC disposes of the appeal.