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Download PDF Former agriculture minister MK Anwar was sent to jail yesterday after he finally surrendered before a Dhaka court in the Gatco corruption case.
After being absconding for over four days, the senior BNP leader along with his lawyers appeared before the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court at 11:05am and sought bail in the case.
Defence counsels advocates Khondaker Delwar Hossain, Sanaullah Miah and Masud Ahmed Talukder argued that their client’s name was not in the first information report (FIR) and it was included in the charge sheet as part of a conspiracy to harass him.
They also prayed for providing their client with division and proper treatment in jail, as he was an ex-minister and has been suffering from various diseases.
Opposing the bail petition, Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol said the court could only order to give MK Anwar division and treatment in jail as per the law.
After hearing both the sides, Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque rejected the bail petition and ordered the former minister to prison.
The court also directed the jail authorities to grant MK Anwar division and access to treatment in jail custody.
On May 15, the same court issued arrest warrants against top BNP leaders M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, MK Anwar, M Shamsul Islam and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and six others in the Gatco graft case.
Following the order, MK Anwar, M Shamsul Islam and Nizami on Sunday appeared before the High Court (HC) seeking anticipatory bail, but the HC rejected their petitions.
The same day in the afternoon, Mannan and Shamsul Islam separately surrendered to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court and was sent to jail.
Nizami’s lawyers that day submitted a leave to appeal with Supreme Court (SC) against the HC order and MK Anwar went into hiding to avoid arrest.
Police arrested Nizami at his Moghbazar residence that night.
On May 13, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) pressed charges against Khaleda Zia, her son Arafat Rahman Koko and 22 others in the graft case.
The ACC filed the case against Khaleda, Koko and 11 others with Tejgaon police on September 2 last year, for corruption in awarding Gatco the container handling work at depots in Dhaka and Chittagong.
NIKO GRAFT CASE
The same court yesterday transferred the Niko graft case to the Special Court-9 set up at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar MP hostel for trial.
The jail authorities in a letter told the court that they could not produce detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia before the court yesterday, the scheduled date for hearing of the case, on security grounds.
Detained former law minister Moudud Ahmed, former acting energy secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam and three others were produced before the court.
On May 5, the ACC pressed charges against Khaleda Zia and 10 others for abuse of power and graft in awarding a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko.
The commission filed the case against Khaleda, Moudud, Mosharraf, Shahidul and Kashem with Tejgaon Police Station on December 9 last year.
CASE AGAINST TARIQUE, BABAR
The court of Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque yesterday also sent the Tk 21 crore bribery case against detained BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman, former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar, Basundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan Shah Alam and five others to the Special Court-3 at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar MP hostel.
The case was filed on October 4 last year against Babar, Shah Alam and four others for exchanging Tk 21 crore bribe for saving Shah Alam’s son Shafiat Sobhan Sanvir from a murder charge in July, 2006.
Tarique’s name was included in the charge sheet later, as his involvement was found during the investigation.
Other accused in the case include former BNP lawmaker Qazi Saleemul Haque and Shah Alam’s sons Sanvir and Sadaat Sobhan.
On May 6, ACC pressed charges against Tarique, Babar, Saleemul, Shah Alam, his sons, director of East West Property Development Pvt Ltd Abu Sufian and Tarique’s personal secretary Mia Nur Uddin Apu.
The anti-graft body said the eight were involved in receiving and giving the bribe to ensure that Sanvir did not have to face charges of killing Humayun Kabir Sabbir, a director of Bashundhara Group.
Sabbir’s body was found outside a building in Bashundhara residential area on July 5, 2006.
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