Meantime, another graft case was filed against Huda with Munshiganj Sadar Police Station on Sunday night while an extortion case was filed in Comilla against former minister Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and 11 others.

Judge Mohammad Azizul Haq of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court adjourned the hearing of the case against Huda and his wife following a time petition by the defence lawyers.

Deputy Director of ACC Shafiqul Islam of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against them with Dhanmondi Police Station on March 21 for taking Tk 2.4 crore in bribe from Mir Zahir Hossain, the owner of Mir Akter Hossain Ltd, a construction firm.

Under a tight security, Huda was produced before the court at 11:30am while his wife was absent from it yesterday.

On June 4, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) pressed charges against Huda and his wife Sigma in connection with the case.

Assistant Director of the ACC Mirza Zahidul Islam, who is also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge sheet against the couple to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Dhaka naming 39 people as prosecution witnesses.

The IO in the charge sheet mentioned that Nazmul Huda took the bribe from Zahir, elder brother of current FBCCI President Mir Nasir Hossain. Zahir handed over the bribe to the former minister at the latter's Dhanmondi residence in three cheques in exchange for a Roads and Highways Department's work order of Tk 30 crore.

According to the investigators, the money was deposited to an account in Motijheel Corporate branch of Agrani Bank. The account was maintained by Khoborer Antorale, a newspaper owned by Sigma Huda.

Sources said, later Tk 1 crore from the deposited bribe money was transferred to two fixed deposit accounts of the Motijheel branch of HSBC bank dividing the amount into Tk 50 lakh each in the names of two daughters of the minister.

The ACC charge sheet said the allegation of taking the bribe against the Huda couple was found to be true in the investigation.

The joint forces recovered evidence of Nazmul Huda's taking the bribe during a raid in his residence following his arrest during an anti-corruption crackdown on February 4. The investigators traced Mir Zahir following a paper trail recovered from the residence.

Zahir corroborated the allegations against Nazmul Huda to a magistrate.

Our Munshiganj correspondent adds: Piyar Mohammad, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department, filed a case with Munshiganj Sadar Police Station against Huda for causing a loss of Tk 12.50 crore to the state.

In his complaint, Piyar Mohammad alleged that the department incurred a loss of about Tk 12.50 crore due to misuse of power of the former minister from May 22 to September 29, 2005.

The former minister also compelled the district Roads & Highways Department (RHD) to float seven tenders illegally in his constituency Dohar of Dhaka district during the period.

Earlier, RHD Superintending Engineer Arifur Rahman filed a Tk 4.50crore graft case against Huda.

MOSHARRAF CASE
Our Comilla correspondent adds: Mohammad Ibrahim, a businessman of Kolakanda village under Tista upazila of Comilla district, filed an extortion case against Mosharraf and 11 others with a cognisance court yesterday.

In his complaint, Ibrahim mentioned that former health minister demanded Tk 1 lakh from him over cell phone on April 10, 2003.

He also said he paid Tk 40,000 in the first instalment and promised to give the rest afterwards. After a few days, the accused started putting pressure on him for the money and he left the area in fear of life, Ibrahim alleged.

The other accused are former Bandarampur UP chairman Sirajul Islam, Raja Miah, Tapan Bhuiyan, Akhteruzzaman, Kuddus Miah, Abul Khair, Anwar Hossain, Abdul Haq Master, Abdul Kuddus Miah, Salahuddin Chairman and Mafizuddin.

After hearing, Magistrate Selina Parvez asked the officer-in-charge of Tista Police Station to take legal action after an investigation into the matter.