Face law alone

The government and the ruling Awami League high-ups appear to be in an uncomfortable situation following the Supreme Court's scrapping of Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya's acquittal on corruption charges.

In February 2008, a special court sentenced Maya to 13 years' jail for illegally amassing wealth worth Tk 6.29 crore and concealing assets worth Tk 5.9 crore. The court also fined the AL leader Tk 5 crore. In October 2010, the HC cleared him of the charges.

But last Sunday, the Appellate Division of the SC scrapped the HC judgment and directed it to hold further hearing on and dispose of the disaster management and relief minister's appeal challenging the lower court verdict.

Maya seems to be in a fix after the SC verdict, as he faces a fresh legal battle to have his name cleared of the graft charges.  

Several AL leaders told this correspondent that Maya should quit the cabinet to save the government from further embarrassment.

"The prime minister is unhappy with Maya. But the ultimate decision will come from our leader [Sheikh Hasina],” an AL central committee member told The Daily Star, requesting anonymity.

After the SC order, Maya reached out to the PM, who was in London then, through a messenger to seek her advice as to his next course of action. The PM advised him to face the court as it was his personal matter, party sources said.

They added Maya might even be dropped from the cabinet and also from the Dhaka city AL.

Maya has been the general secretary of the unit since 2004.

Maya fell from the prime minister's grace in April last year, after the name of his son-in-law, the now fired Rab-11 commanding officer Lt Col Tareque Sayeed Mohammad, came up in the Narayanganj seven-murder case, sources said.

At the time, Maya and his family drew huge flake from in and outside the party. He then avoided appearing in public and skipped cabinet meetings.

But his "controversial" role in the recent Dhaka city elections aggravated the situation as he did not support the party-backed mayor candidates.

The Daily Star called Maya on Wednesday and also yesterday for his comment, but the phone was found switched off.

Asked, Shahidul Islam Milon, his assistant personal secretary, told this newspaper yesterday that he was not aware that Maya reached out to the PM for her advice. He also said he had no knowledge that the minister would be dropped from the cabinet.

This is not the first time that Maya and his family caused embarrassment for the AL government.

During the 1996-2001 tenure of the AL, Maya's son Dipu Chowdhury was at the centre of numerous controversies.

Dipu's name came up in land grabbing in Uttara, market grabbing in Gulshan and Banani, tender manipulation, extortion and the killing of a contractor in Uttara in 2001.

Maya was state minister for shipping then.

Dipu was eventually arrested in the murder case and served time in jail.