HC still to rehear appeals to examine lower court verdicts

More than two years after the Supreme Court asked the High Court to "expeditiously rehear" and dispose of appeals from among 35 corruption accused, mostly politicians and their family members, the HC is yet to finish its job.

None of the 27 appeals filed was adjudicated yet.

The HC started hearing only one of the appeals, challenging the lower court verdicts that jailed the accused to different terms in separate corruption cases.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star that he did not know why the HC could not settle any of the appeals because they were related to the corruption cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

It would be better if the appeals are heard and disposed of quickly, he added. 

The HC bench led by Justice Md Ruhul Quddus started rehearing the appeal filed by former BNP lawmaker engineer Manjurul Ahsan Munshi in July, and it may resume the hearing proceedings after the ongoing annual vacation ends, on October 30, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.   

He said the HC could not rehear other appeals, as its relevant benches were overburdened, and some of the documents were not produced before them on time.

Some of the appeals have been included in the cause lists of the HC benches for their hearings, he said.

The Appellate Division has so far scrapped several HC verdicts that acquitted around 35 people, including Relief and Disaster Management Minster Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and former BNP minister Nazmul Huda, in separate corruption cases.

The HC will examine through rehearing of the appeals whether the lower court verdicts that sentenced the accused were correct or not, he said.

Advocate Khurshid said the SC cancelled the acquittals of the accused, considering that the HC verdicts on them were not correct, since it did not properly consider the relevant evidence and the corruption allegations against them.

The ACC counsel said the HC had acquitted the corruption accused in the cases against them in the light of an SC judgment that acquitted former Awami League minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir in a similar case.

The lawyer said the SC had acquitted Alamgir, declaring illegal a 2007 ACC notice that asked him to submit a wealth statement. There were no ACC commissioners appointed then and Alamgir was in jail at that time, he added.

Then the commission gave a similar notice to around 50 corruption suspects, he said.

Apart from Maya and Huda, other corruption accused whose acquittals were rescinded by the apex court include Huda's wife Sigma Huda, former BNP state minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmood Tuku, BNP leader Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin and his son Mir Helal Uddin, ruling Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim, former BNP state minister Amanullah Aman and his wife Sabera Aman, former AL lawmaker Joynal Abedin Hazari, former BNP lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim and his 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, former Islami Oikya Jote lawmaker Mufti Shahidul Islam, and engineer Monjurul Ahsan Munshi, said the ACC lawyer.

He said 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, he added.

Of the accused, Maya, Huda, Tuku, Munshi, Hafiz, Nsiruddin and Helal filed separate petitions with the SC seeking a review of its orders that scrapped their acquittals, but the apex court dismissed their review petitions, ACC counsel Khurshid Alam said.