The High Court (HC) has acquitted BNP’s Khagrachhari district president Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) during the tenure of the former caretaker government, in which he had been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

HC bench Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and Justice Md Saghir Hossain granted his appeal and cleared him of the charges.

Senior lawyers Monsurul Hoque Chowdhury and SM Shahjahan, along with Barrister Kayser Kamal and Advocate Maksud Ullah, represented the petitioner in court.

The case was filed on March 3, 2007, with the charge sheet submitted on 6 June the same year. The verdict was delivered on July 22, 2007, sentencing him to a total of 20 years’ imprisonment in three charges — three years, 10 years and seven years.

The Chattogram Divisional Special Judge’s Court had convicted Bhuiyan for amassing Tk 6.36 crore in wealth beyond known sources of income and for concealing wealth information from the ACC. 

The court also ordered confiscation of his illegally acquired movable and immovable properties in favour of the state. He filed an appeal with the High Court later that year.

Following Sunday’s verdict, Barrister Kayser Kamal said the case was related to asset statements. “During the 1/11 period, many BNP leaders were arrested en masse and such cases were filed, which were not lawful. Through today’s verdict, Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan has been acquitted of all charges, and the order to confiscate his assets has also been scrapped,” he said.

MSK/