Dhaka, July 8 (bdnews24.com) – The High Court Tuesday stayed two separate graft cases filed against the wives of Rajshahi mayor MIzanur Rahman Minu and Barisal mayor Mujibur Rahman Sarwar.
A High Court bench of justices Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Imdadul Haque Azad stayed the cases for four months each following petitions by the accused to annul the cases.
The bench also issued a rule nisi on the Anticorruption Commission and the government to explain within four weeks why the proceedings of the cases should not be declared illegal.
Both wives have been accused of abetting their hubands in amassing assets beyond known sources of income and concealing wealth-related information.
The High Court, on June 30, granted interim bail to Salma Rahman, wife of MIzanur Rahman Minu, for four months.
On June 9, the court granted three months' interim bail to Mujibur Rahman's wife Syeda Nasima Sarwar.
Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan and advocate Mizanur Rahman represented both the accused in court Tuesday, saying the ACC did not give proper legal notice for submission of wealth statements.
The lawyer argued that no case may be filed without giving proper notice; the case was therefore filed illegally and the charges against the two wives of abetting their husbands was baseless.
The ACC filed a case on July 27 last year, with Kotwali police in Rajshahi, against the Rajshahi mayor for amassing illegal wealth and concealing wealth information. His wife was accused of abetting husband.
The graft watchdog filed a similar case against the Barisal mayor on Oct 31 last year, with Barisal Kotwali police, and against his wife for abetting him.
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