High Court acquits Ershad of Tk19 million misappropriation

The High Court has relieved former military dictator HM Ershad of gift misappropriation charges that go back 26 years.

Now a special envoy to the prime minister, the Jatiya Party chief has been accused of financial irregularities involving gifts worth over Tk 19 million in a case that started in 1991.

In February 1992, the court of Dhaka's divisional special judge found him guilty and sentenced three years in prison. It also ordered confiscation of the money and a SUV from him.

The deposed military strongman challenged the verdict in the High Court. In June 2012, the Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC was made a party to the case.

On Mar 9 this year, the High Court finished the hearing and fixed Mar 23 to give its verdict. But it was not delivered as two appeals by the state against the trial court's verdict were yet to be disposed of.

The court forwarded the matter to the chief justice, who then assigned a new bench to hear the matter.

Ershad's counsel Sheikh Sirajul Islam told the media that the High Court overturned the trial court's verdict and scrapped two pleas by the state seeking stricter penalties.

ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said he found the verdict 'strange'.

"I would suggest the ACC should take the verdict to the Appellate Division. The ACC has been informed; it's their call.”

After his ouster following a mass movement, a total of 42 cases on various charges were stacked against Ershad. He was sentenced to different terms in jail in three of the cases and served out a total of six years.

According to the affidavit he submitted to the Election Commission during the 2014 elections, he mentioned eight cases on trial against him at the time. He was acquitted, or sentenced in some of the other cases while the rest were disposed of.

Of the eight cases, four have been stayed by the High Court.

A reinvestigation was ordered into the Major General Manzoor Murder Case in 2014, when the trial was at the final stage in a judge’s court.