SC allows ACC to appeal against Morshed Khan's acquittal

The Supreme Court yesterday allowed the Anti-Corruption Commission to move an appeal before it against a High Court verdict that acquitted former BNP foreign minister M Morshed Khan in a corruption case.

Following an appeal filed by Morshed, the HC on August 5, 2010 scrapped the 13-year prison sentence delivered by a lower court to him in the case filed by the ACC during the regime of military-backed caretaker government.

Yesterday, a three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana granted a petition filed by the ACC seeking its permission to move an appeal challenging the HC judgement, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

On August 4, 2008, a special judge's court convicted Morshed and sentenced him to 13 years' imprisonment for amassing wealth worth Tk 1.7 crore illegally and concealing information about wealth worth Tk 91.34 lakh in his wealth statement submitted to ACC.

The ACC filed the case against the BNP leader and his wife with Gulshan Police Station on December 10, 2007.