Ex-PSC member Prof Mahfuz gets 13yrs

Trackback URL

Download PDF

A special court yesterday sentenced former Public Service Commission (PSC) member Prof Mahfuzur Rahman to 13 years’ imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally and concealing information in wealth statement submitted to the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC).

Mahfuzur was also fined Tk 50 lakh, in default of which he will have to serve two more years in jail. The court also ordered confiscation of his ill-gotten property worth Tk 5.02 crore by the state.

Judge AKM Arifur Rahman of the Special Court-10, set up on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises for dealing with corruption cases, delivered the judgment.

Mahfuzur is absconding and was tried in absentia. The punishment will come into effect from the day of his arrest or surrender, the verdict said.

The court sentenced him to three years jail for concealing information about wealth worth Tk 1,82,000 in the wealth statement and 10 years rigorous imprisonment for amassing wealth worth Tk 5.02 crore beyond his known sources of income.

The convictions were under section 26 (2) and 27 (1) of ACC act and the two terms would run concurrently.

There are numerous allegations against Mahfuzur, including taking bribes and conducting irregularities in 27th BCS examination when he was a PSC member.

The judge observed that being a professor of a public university (Mymensingh Agricultural University), and holding a constitutional post like membership in PSC previously, Mahfuzur should have faced the trial.

As he did not do that despite being a respectable citizen, exemplary punishment is delivered upon him, the judge added.

“This is for the first time a PSC member is convicted for graft since the country’s independence,” advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, the public prosecutor, said.

ACC Assistant Director Helal Uddin Sharif filed the case against Mahfuzur with Kafrul Police Station on September 23, 2007 accusing him of accumulating wealth of Tk 4.5 crore beyond known sources of income.

Depositions of 49 witnesses were taken in the case.

ACC Assistant Director Nasir Uddin Ahmed submitted the charge sheet on February 12 this year and the charge framing against Mahfuzur took place on March 3.

In his wealth statement, Mahfuzur showed that he owns Tk 99.20 lakh while the ACC investigation revealed that he owns wealth worth Tk 5.42 crore.

Leave a Reply