Mirza Abbas, a Standing Committee Member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been acquitted of corruption charges related to the alleged acquisition of unaccounted assets and the concealment of his wealth information.
Judge Md Masud Parvez of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-6 delivered the verdict on Thursday, saying that the charges against Mirza Abbas were not proven.
Mirza Abbas was produced before court for the verdict, accompanied by his wife, Afroza Abbas.
The court set the date for the verdict after hearing closing arguments from both the prosecution and the defense on August 22.
The case centered on allegations that Mirza Abbas had acquired assets valued at approximately Tk7.5 crore, which were allegedly inconsistent with his known sources of income, and that he had concealed information about assets worth Tk5,726,571.
The case was initially filed by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Md Shafiul Alam at the Ramna police station on August 16, 2007.
On May 24, 2008, the ACC Deputy Director Md Khairul Huda submitted a charge sheet, accusing Mirza Abbas and Afroza Abbas of acquiring assets worth Tk4.2 crore and concealing information about property worth Tk22 lakh. Later the High Court quashed the trial proceedings against Afroza Abbas following a writ petition against the order for framing charges against her.
The trial commenced on June 16, 2008, with charges being framed against Mirza Abbas. Throughout the proceedings, testimony was provided by 24 witnesses.
In another case, former Housing and Public Works Minister Mirza Abbas, along with two others, has been acquitted in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) over the alleged fraudulent allotment of an industrial plot. The other acquitted individuals are former BNP lawmaker Ali Asgar Lobi and Mahfuzul Islam, a former senior special assistant secretary at the Ministry of Establishment.
Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka delivered the acquittal yesterday following an application from the ACC, which sought the withdrawal of the prosecution under Section 494 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to ACC Public Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam, as reported by The Bangladesh Post.
