Graft case: HC verdict on 25-yr-old appeal of Ershad tomorrow

The High Court will deliver a verdict tomorrow on a 25-year-old appeal of former president HM Ershad against a lower court judgement that jailed him for three years in a corruption case.

Today, the bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus fixed 3:30pm tomorrow for giving the verdict, as it concluded the hearing on the appeal on March 9.

Anti-Corruption Commission’s lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the then Bureau of Anti-Corruption (Bac), which became defunct after formation of the ACC in 2004, had filed the case against Ershad with Cantonment Police Station in 1992 on charge of misappropriating Tk 1.91 crore by misusing powers at different times when he was the president of the state from December 11, 1983 to December 6, 1990.

On February 3, 1992, a Dhaka court convicted Ershad, also chairman of the Jatiya Party, and sentenced him to three years' imprisonment for misappropriating the money and ordered the authorities concerned to confiscate the money and his Toyota Land Cruiser car for committing corruption.

Ershad had filed an appeal with the HC in the same year, challenging the lower court judgment. In the appeal, Ershad prayed to the HC to acquit him of the corruption charge, he said.

Following the appeal, the HC stayed the lower court verdict, Advocate Khurshid said, adding that the ACC on February 26 in 2012 became a party to the case under the HC's permission, as the Bac was not functional.

The lawyer said Ershad had obtained bail from the HC in the case, as he served three years’ in jail in the case.

Advocate Sheikh Sirajul Islam argued for Ershad, saying that the trial court had illegally convicted and sentenced his client in the case.