HC to rehear Maya graft case
Appellate Division rejects minister�s review plea
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected a review petition filed by Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya seeking a review of its earlier order that had scrapped a High Court verdict acquitting him of graft charges. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha rejected the petition as it was not being proceeded for hearing. Concerned lawyers said that now the High Court would conduct a fresh hearing on the matter as per the apex court directive that had asked the High Court to rehear the case in which Maya, also a senior Awami League leader, was jailed for 13 years by a Dhaka special court in 2008.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, counsel for the the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), told reporters that the apex court rejected the review petition as Mayas lawyer Abdul Based Majumder told the court that his client would not proceed with the review petition. On August 3 last year, Maya filed the review petition with the Supreme Court seeking a review of its earlier order that had scrapped his acquittal in a corruption case. In his petition, Maya mentioned that the High Court had rightly acquitted him of the corruption charges and there was no illegality in the HC judgment. On June 14, last year, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court scrapped a High Court order acquitting Maya in a graft case. The Appellate Division also asked the High Court to rehear the case in which Maya was sentenced to 13 years in prison by a Dhaka special court in 2008. ACC Assistant Director Nurul Alam filed the case with Sutrapur Police Station in Dhaka in 2008, accusing Maya of amassing illegal property worth about Tk 3 million. A special court on February 14, 2008, during the regime of the army-backed caretaker government, sentenced the Awami League leader to 13 years in prison and fined him Tk 5 crore. The court also directed the authorities concerned to confiscate Mayas property. Following an appeal of Maya, the High Court on October 27, 2010, acquitted him of the charges. Later, in response to an appeal made by the ACC against the HC order, the apex court scrapped the HC order and directed the HC to conduct a fresh hearing on the appeal.
