Staff Reporter :The Supreme Court has rejected the review petition of Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, upholding 13 years’ jail for him. A four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the apex court headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha passed the order on Sunday following Maya’s plea filed against the SC’s order that scrapped his acquittal in graft charges. Abdul Baset Majumder stood for Maya in the court, while Khurshid Alam Khan was the lawyer for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that filed the corruption case. Khurshid Alam Khan, the ACC lawyer, said that with the rejection, the 13 years’ jail term awarded to the Minister by the lower court would now remain in place.With the dismissal of the petition, the High Court would now hold further hearing to dispose the appeal filed by Maya challenging the lower court’s judgement against him, said lawyers. Meanwhile, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya in an immediate reaction after the apex court’s order said that he would consult with his lawyers to decide on his next step. “The court has given its decision. And I respect the law,” he told the media at his office in the Secretariat.On August 3 in 2015, Maya filed the petition seeking review of the Appellate Division’s orderEarlier on June 14 in 2015, the Appellate Division quashed the High Court order that acquitted Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya of the graft charges. It also asked the High Court to rehear the appeal filed by the Minister challenging the lower court judgement.On June 13 in 2007, the ACC filed the case against the Awami League leader with Sutrapur Police Station accusing him of amassing wealth beyond his known source of income and concealing information about his wealth worth Tk 29 lakh.A special judge’s court in Dhaka on February 24 in 2008 convicted Maya and sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment in the case. It also fined him Tk 5 crore and ordered confiscation of about Tk 6 crore of his ill-gotten wealth.Maya filed an appeal before the High Court on May 25 in 2009. On 27 October in 2010, the High Court acquitted the Minister of the corruption charges and cancelled his conviction. Later, the ACC filed an appeal against the High Court order to the Appellate Division of the apex court. The Appellate Division in its quashing order said that the High Court had not applied its judicial mind in acquitting Maya of the corruption charges brought against him. Then Maya had filed the review petition.
