Graft case against Moudud shifted to another court

The High Court today transferred a corruption case against former BNP law minister Moudud Ahmed from the Special Judge Court-6 of Dhaka to its Metropolitan Senior Special Judge.

The HC also ordered Metropolitan Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Kamrul Hossain Mollah to finish the trial proceedings of the case in six months without any adjournment.  

The bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath came up with the order following a petition filed by Barrister Moudud Ahmed challenging an order passed by Judge KM Imrul Kayes of the Special Judge Court-6 of Dhaka that rejected his (Moudud) application expressing no-confidence in the judge (Imrul Kayes).

The HC judges, however, summarily rejected another petition filed by Moudud for scraping the lower court order that framed charges against him in this corruption case, Anti Corruption Commission lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

There is no legal bar for the trial court concerned to continue the trial proceedings of the case filed by the ACC against Moudud, he added.      

The court of Judge KM Imrul Kayes on June 21 framed charges against Moudud in the corruption case filed during the regime of military-backed caretaker government and also fixed July 26 for recording statements of the witnesses of the case.

At the same time, the judge rejected an application filed by Moudud Ahmed, who was evicted from his Gulshan residence earlier in June following a Supreme Court order, expressing no-confidence in Judge Imrul Kayes.

On September 16, 2007, the ACC filed the case against Moudud with Gulshan Police Station on a charge of amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income and withholding information about his assets.

The first information report (FIR) of the case said Moudud showed movable and immovable properties worth over Tk 13.23 crore in his account of wealth submitted to the ACC on July 23, 2007.

On May 15, 2008, the ACC pressed charges against Moudud in the case alleging that he (Moudud) amassed wealth worth over Tk 7.38 crore through illegal means and concealed information about wealth worth over Tk 4.40 crore from the commission.

Barrister Moudud Ahmed himself moved the petitions.