Money laundering charges against Morshed Khan, family to be reinvestigated

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld an order issued by the High Court to reinvestigate money laundering charges against former foreign minister M Morshed Khan and his family.

A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain issued the order on Thursday after hearing a petition by Morshed.

Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud and Ahsanul Karim stood for the BNP leader while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan argued for the Anti-Corruption Commission that filed the case in 2013.

Morshed Khan filed a petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court order for a reinvestigation into the case.

The ACC prosecuted Morshed, his wife Nasreen Khan and son Faisal Morshed Khan in 2013. Their bank accounts remained frozen until 2015.

A trial court order later unfroze the accounts following the submission of ACC’s final probe report in 2015 leading to the acquittal of the three.

The ACC then moved to a special court in Dhaka, challenging the acquittal in an appeal which was later turned down.

The case ultimately rolled into the High Court that issued a rule in 2016, ordering the authorities to freeze the bank accounts again. The same year, the High Court ordered a reinvestigation into the case.