Disposal of Graft Appeals: Three years on, little progress on Supreme Court order

In June 2015, the Supreme Court ordered the High Court to quickly hear and dispose of 27 appeals that had challenged verdicts in as many corruption cases.

In more than three years since, the HC delivered judgments in just three cases and reheard another.

The appeals were filed by 35 corruption convicts and accused, mostly politicians and their family members.

“The relevant High Court benches are overburdened and a number of them have been reconstituted. In some cases, documents needed for the hearing were not produced before the court in time. A number of petitioners had also filed review petitions with the Appellate Division,” said Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.

Justice is being delayed as a result of this, he added.

“We will look into the reason behind the delay in rehearing the appeals. We will find out if any court officials or staff members are involved in this in any way,” Saifur Rahman, a special officer at the Supreme Court, told The Daily Star last night over phone.

Earlier this year, some of the appeals were included on the cause list of the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam for hearings, said the ACC lawyer.

The bench may start rehearing the appeals filed by former BNP state ministers Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku and Aman Ullah Aman this month, he added.

On August 14, the same bench concluded rehearing the appeal by Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya against a lower court verdict that sentenced him to 13 years' imprisonment in a corruption case.

The HC is expected to deliver the judgment today.

Following a leave-to-appeal petition by the ACC, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on June 14, 2015, cancelled a previous HC verdict that had acquitted Maya.

It also directed the HC to hold the rehearing and dispose of Maya's appeal.

The ACC had filed the case against Maya, also a leader of ruling Awami League, with Sutrapur Police Station on June 13, 2007.

The three appeals that the HC disposed of were filed by former BNP leader Nazmul Huda and his wife Sigma Huda, former BNP lawmakers Hafiz Ibrahim and Monjurul Ahsan Munshi.

On November 8 last year, the HC commuted the sentence of Nazmul Huda to four years from seven years after rehearing his appeal in a bribery case filed during the 2007-08 caretaker government's rule.

About Sigma Huda's three-year sentence, the court said it would consider served since she had served time in jail during the trial process.

On February 6 this year, the HC upheld the three years' prison sentence of Hafiz Ibrahim for concealing information about his wealth. A lower court awarded him the punishment in 2008.

The HC said his sentence would also be considered served as he had been in prison for more than two years during the trial.

The lower court had sentenced him to 10 years for amassing wealth illegally. The HC acquitted Hafiz of the charge. The ACC filed the case with Gulshan Police Station on May 8, 2007.  

On May 16 last year, the HC upheld its earlier verdict that acquitted Monjurul Ahsan of acquiring wealth illegally and concealing information about his properties. He had been sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment by a court.

The SC first scrapped the acquittal of Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and sent his appeal to the HC for rehearing on January 27, 2014. Then the apex court passed similar orders about other accused on different days considering that the HC may not have evaluated relevant evidence and allegations against the accused properly, court sources said.

The other accused whose acquittal were cancelled by the top court include former BNP state minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku, BNP leader Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin and his son Mir Helal Uddin, Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim, former BNP state minister Amanullah Aman and his wife Sabera Aman, former AL lawmaker Joynal Abedin Hazari, Hafiz Ibrahim's wife Mafruza Sultana, former AL lawmaker Mockbul Hossain and his wife Fatema Tahera Khanam, former commissioner of customs Jahurul Haque and his wife Afia Haque, and former Islami Oikya Jote lawmaker Mufti Shahidul Islam.