Court should decide if Maya can continue as minister after conviction for corruption, says Dr Kamal Hossain

Senior lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain has said the court should decide whether Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya could continue to hold his ministerial position after his conviction for corruption charges was upheld.

“I should not comment on a matter still pending with the court,” he said in reply to queries from journalists after a programme in Dhaka on Friday.
 
“I think none is above the law. The High Court can give the correct rule if one approaches it for the answer.”
 
On June 14, the Supreme Court quashed the High Court order acquitting Maya of graft charges in a case filed in 2008.
 
It also ordered fresh hearings on the case.

Maya is the General Secretary of the Awami League’s Dhaka metropolitan unit.

The charge against him was that he illegally owned property worth around Tk 3 million.

On Feb 14, 2008, the Awami League MP was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined Tk 50 million.

A special court also ordered confiscation of his property worth around Tk 60 million.

A High Court bench set aside the verdict on Oct 27, 2010.

The recent verdict of the top appellate court evoked a fresh controversy over Maya continuing as minister and MP.

The BNP has demanded resignation of Maya, who has been tight-lipped on the issue.

Supreme Court Lawyer Yunus Ali Akhand on June 30 sent Maya a legal notice, asking him to reply within 24 hours under what authority he was still retaining the office of minister and that of MP.

He said, “Any convicted person cannot continue to hold the office of an MP or the minister according to Article 66.2(D) of the Constitution.”

The article deals with ‘qualification and disqualification of parliamentarian’.

“A person shall be disqualified for election as, or for being, a member of Parliament who has been, convicted for a criminal offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release,” it says.

Maya’s lawyer Abdul Baset Mazumder claimed Article 66.2(D) would not be applicable to his client since an appeal was still pending with the court.

But petitioner Anti Corruption Commission (ACC)’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said Maya should resign.

He, however, said Parliament should decide on the matter.