POBNEWS24, Dhaka Sept 8, 2024 : Engineer Mosharraf Hossain was the Minister of Housing and Public Works Department in 1999. While in charge, he misused the power and allocated government land to the organization of MP of his party. In return, he extorted Tk 55 lakh. Anti-corruption commission filed a case against Musharraf in 2008 after finding the truth of the allegations. In 2018, the court acquitted him of the charges during the trial of the case.
It is alleged that when Awami League was in power, the court released him before the trial due to party influence. Later, ACC did not appeal to the High Court against the dismissal of Engineer Musharraf due to government influence. The judge who acquitted Engineer Musharraf of the case, Mir Ruhul Amin, is currently the Director General (Legal and Prosecution) of the ACC.
ACC Case
In 1999, Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain allocated a lease to Awami League MP Rafiqul Anwar’s company to build a three-star hotel on the government land designated for car parking in the Agrabad commercial area in the master plan of Chittagong city. The issue of corruption came to the attention of the ACC in 2007 during the One-Eleven incident.
After the initial investigation, on November 22, 2007, the then assistant director of the ACC, Jahangir Alam, filed a case at the city’s Doublemooring police station. In the case, Minister of Housing and Public Works at the time of the incident, Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, MP Rafiqul Anwar and his brother Fakhrul Anwar were accused. 409, 161, 109 of the Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act are alleged in the case.
It is mentioned in the case, the government price of the discussed 1.44 bigha land including various taxes was 1 crore 69 lakh 20 thousand 789 789.38 taka. First, the applicant applied in the name of Hotel Golden Inn Chittagong and allotted the place to make it a three star hotel. Later, the Ministry changed the allotment in the name of M/s Sanmar Hotels Limited. The lease of the premises in the name of the then managing director Masuk Haque Shaheen and his wife of the second party Sanmar Properties was transferred to the ownership company.
For this, Masuk Haque paid Tk 4 crore 61 lakh 99 thousand 537 decimal 38 along with the value of the land in the name of Rafiqul Anwar and three brothers’ organization. ACC found evidence of distribution of Tk 2 crore 92 lakh 78 thousand 748 without any investment.
Later, in the investigation of the case, the ACC found evidence that Engineer Mosharraf Hossain took Tk 55 lakh out of that amount. On July 30, 2008, the investigating officer submitted the charge sheet to the court with the approval of the commission. It is mentioned in the complaint, excluding the value of the land, Tk 2 crore 92 lakh 78 thousand 748 was paid by Masuk Haque, the owner of the second stage through 9 checks of AAZ Greenledge and Standard Chartered Bank in the name of Rafiqul Anwar, the owner of the first stage of Sanmar Hotels Limited.
It is mentioned in the charge sheet that engineer Musharraf took Tk 55 lakh in exchange for allotting the said plot in their name (Fakhrul Anwar’s brother Gong) by misusing the government power. Fakhrul Anwar’s NCC Bank Majhirghat, Chittagong branch bank account gave Tk 50 lakh in the name of Engineer Mosharraf Hossain’s wife through account-pay check and MP Rafiqul Anwar gave Tk 5 lakh to Engineer Mosharraf Hossain in cash. However, Rafiqul Anwar died after giving the charge sheet in the case. Rafiqul Anwar’s brother Faridul Anwar died before the case.
The case was canceled by Justice Manik.
Meanwhile, in that case, when Engineer Musharraf applied for cancellation of the case, the High Court issued a bench rule in 2008. In the final hearing of that rule on November 20, 2012, the bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Farid Ahmed dismissed the case. Later, ACC filed an appeal against this order of the High Court.
On May 28, 2016, the Appellate Division quashed the order of the High Court by disposing of that leave to appeal. He ordered the accused to surrender before the concerned court. On May 8, 2016, the case came to the lower court for trial by order of the Appellate Division. Later on February 7, 2017, Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, the accused number 1 in the case, surrendered to the court of Chittagong and took bail.
The Chittagong Divisional Special Judge Court acquitted engineer Mosharraf Hossain, the accused No. 1 of the case in the ACC case filed during the caretaker government in 2008. On January 25, 2018, the judge of the court was Mir Ruhul Amin. Mir Ruhul Amin is currently working as Director General (Legal and Prosecution) of ACC.
The complaint was that in 2018, when the Awami League government was in power, Judge Engineer Musharraf was released under the influence of the Law Ministry. After that ACC did not appeal against the exemption order even in the last six and a half years.
When asked about this, ACC lawyer Advocate Chanoar Ahmed Lovelu did not agree to give any statement in Chittagong court. However, a lawyer who was present at the hearing of the case told Jago News on the condition of anonymity, “In the charge sheet of the ACC case, it was clearly written that Engineer Mosharraf Hossain took Tk 50 lakh from the bank account of Fakhrul Anwar through a check in the name of his wife. Again, Musharraf accepted five lakh taka in cash from the then MP Rafiqul Anwar. Moreover, he allocated the car parking plot in the name of Sona Rafiq’s (Rafiqul Anwar) organization under influence while he was a minister himself. But during the time of Minister Nasim, the ministry rejected the previous application.
When asked about the non-appeal in the High Court, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam told Jago News, ‘I handle the ACC case in the High Court as per the instructions of the commission. When the commission decides on the matter, we act accordingly. No instruction has been given by the commission to appeal against the order of exemption of engineer Musharraf in that Chittagong case. Moreover, it would not be appropriate to comment on anything without seeing the document at the moment.’
Advocate Akhtar Kabir Chowdhury, general secretary of Citizens for Good Governance (Sujan) Chittagong, told Jago News, “We know about the case of the ACC regarding irregularities in Sanmar Hotel Limited’s Ganopurte plot. In that case, we do not understand on what grounds the court acquitted Engineer Mosharraf Hossain. But the ACC can legally appeal against the order if the charge sheet describes the offense to be taken into account.’
ACC Director General (Legal and Prosecution) Mir Ruhul Amin told Jago News, “The order on which ground I acquitted Minister Mosharraf Hossain in the ACC case when I was a judge of Chittagong Special Judge Court is under review.”
He said, ‘I don’t know why the ACC did not appeal against that order at that time. But my appointment to the ACC has nothing to do with the non-appeal. However, if the commission wants, it can decide on the appeal against that order.
Another accused in the case was acquitted.
On January 25, 2018, the court started the trial by framing the charges in the case. Earlier, the ACC submitted a charge sheet against engineers Mosharraf Hossain, Fakhrul Anwar and Rafiqul Anwar on July 30, 2008. Rafiqul Anwar died on April 3, 2017 before the complaint was filed. On January 25, 2018, the court acquitted the accused No. 1 engineer Mosharraf Hossain under section 241A of the Criminal Procedure Code and Rafiqul Anwar as he died. Later, the special judge’s court started the trial by forming a complaint under section 409 against the only accused Fakhrul Anwar.
Among the 25 witnesses in the charge sheet, the prosecution side produced 15 witnesses in the court. On January 19, 2020 Chittagong Sessions Judge and Acting Special Judge Md. Ismail Hossain acquitted Fakhrul Anwar in the verdict of the case. Observing the verdict, the court said that except the witness number 1 who testified in the case, all the other witnesses did not give strong testimony in the court to prove the case. Besides, Chittagong District Commissioner and Executive Engineer of Public Works Department gave a report. In the note sheet dated February 24, 2003, he acquitted the accused taking into account the fact that there was no financial loss to the government.
ACC lawyer Advocate Chanoar Ahmed Lovelu said in Chittagong court, ‘It is not possible to give any statement without seeing the document.’ However, another concerned lawyer, who did not wish to reveal his name, said, ’15 witnesses were produced in court. The Ministry’s Joint Secretary, Standard Chartered Bank, NCC Bank officials were produced in the court as witnesses. They told the court that the ACC officials seized the documents including transaction cheques, bank statements in the case. Witnesses said the transaction checks and bank statements were genuine.
He said, “When the Awami League government was in power, the witnesses could not give proper testimony in the court as the accused government party was influential. Many of them said they did not know about the case. But documentary evidence of the incident was produced in court.’
According to the documents of the case, the ACC appealed to the High Court against the acquittal of the sole accused, Fakhrul Anwar. Accepting ACC’s appeal, the High Court on September 17, 2020 ordered the accused Fakhrul Anwar to surrender to the judicial court within 15 days. Then on November 22, 2020, the accused surrendered to the court and took bail. However, as the appeal of the High Court has not yet been decided, it is not known about the further proceedings of the case.
