Graft Case: No bar to resume trial against Mirza Abbas

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for a lower court concerned to resume trial proceedings of a corruption case filed against BNP leader Mirza Abbas in 2007.

The apex court lifted its earlier stay order on the trial proceedings and also upheld a High Court verdict that had cleared the way for the lower court to run proceedings.

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, dismissed a leave to appeal petition filed by Mirza Abbas challenging the HC judgement.

Other four judges of the bench are Justice Md Nuruzzaman, Justice Obaidul Hassan, Justice Borhanuddin and Justice M Enayetur Rahim.

On November 11, 2019, the HC rejected a petition filed by Mirza Abbas for scrapping the case proceedings.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case with Ramna Police Station in 2007, accusing Abbas of amassing illegal wealth worth over Tk 7 crore, beyond known sources of income, and concealing information about his wealth, ACC's lawyer Khusrhid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

Following a petition, the Appellate Division stayed trial proceedings, he said, adding that now there is no legal bar to resume the proceedings.

                    Senior lawyer Abdur Razaque Khan and lawyer Sagir Hossain Leon appeared for Mirza Abbas during hearing of the leave to appeal petition.