High Court fixes May 9 to decide on 1991 graft case against HM Ershad

The High Court fixed May 9 to decide on the trial court's verdict to imprison former president HM Ershad for three years in a graft case.

Ershad stands accused of not depositing to the state coffers the gifts he had received while in power from 1983 to 1990. The former military ruler misappropriated more than Tk 19 million, according to a case document.

A special judge’s court in Dhaka handed him the prison term in 1992.

Ershad challenged the order and sought bail while the government sought harsher punishment.

Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty will deliver a verdict in the two-decade-old case on May 9.

The then Anti-Corruption Bureau's Deputy Director Saleh Uddin Ahmed started the case against Ershad in 1991.

In 1992, a Dhaka court sentenced Ershad to three years in prison and issued an order for the government to seize the money and his Toyota Land Cruiser.

Ershad, who is known as 'military dictator', challenged the order in the High Court. The HC granted the ACC's petition to be a part in the Ershad's appeal in 2012.

The HC finished hearing the appeals on Mar 9 last year and fixed Mar 23 for delivering its verdict.

But on Mar 23, Justice Md Ruhul Quddus sent the case documents to Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha saying that two appeals from the state were still unresolved.

The chief justice then assigned the bench of Justice Quddus and Justice Chakrabortty to resolve all three appeals.

Ershad currently serves Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as her special envoy. His wife Jatiya Party faction chief Roushan Ershad leads the opposition in parliament.

Ershad is currently facing eight cases, according to his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission prior to the 2014 elections.