Staff Reporter :The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday scrapped a High Court verdict that acquitted incumbent Relief and Disaster Management Minister and senior Awami League leader Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya in a 2007 graft case.Instead, the Appellate Division ordered to go into further hearings in this case.A three-member bench of the Appellate Division chaired by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha issued the order on Sunday.The country’s apex court passed the order following an appeal moved by the Anti-Corruption Commission [ACC].On October 27, 2010, the ACC filed a case with Dhaka’s Sutrapur Police Station against Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, also the incumbent general secretary of Awami League, Dhaka city unit, for amassing illegal property. A special court on February 14, 2008, handed Maya to 13 years in prison and Tk 5 crore in fine for amassing illegal property. Authorities concerned were also directed to confiscate Maya’s property.Following an appeal by Maya, the High Court on October 27, 2010, acquitted him from the corruption charge.Later, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed an appeal against the High Court order to the Appellate Division.Now, the apex court has scrapped that verdict and ordered the High Court for further hearing on the appeal filed by the AL lawmaker that acquitted him back in 2010.Khurshid Alam Khan, the lawyer of ACC, said the Appellate Division asked the High Court to rehear the appeal filed by the minister with the High Court challenging a lower court judgment. So, the appeal is now under justice, he said. It is to be noted that the three former RAB officials, including son-in-law of Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya Lt Col Tareq Sayeed Mohammad, were sent on forced retirement for their alleged involvement in killing seven people after abduction and dumping the bodies in Narayanganj last year.However, Maya in a statement issued two days after his son-in-law was sacked from the Army said, “I would like to state categorically that none of my family has ever been linked or involved in any business dealings with any of the accused in the murder case.”
