Staff Correspondent:

BNP Standing Committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku has been acquitted by the Appellate Division of the nine-year prison sentence previously handed down by the High Court in a long-running case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, passed the order on Thursday after accepting Tuku’s appeal against the High Court verdict. Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal appeared in court on his behalf.

The case was initially filed at Mohammadpur Police Station on March 21, 2007, by ACC Deputy Director Shahriar Chowdhury over allegations of concealing property accounts and sources of income. ACC Deputy Director SMM Akhtar Hamid Bhuiyan submitted the chargesheet in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court on June 28 of the same year.

In its verdict, the trial court on November 15, 2007, sentenced Tuku to nine years in prison—two years under Section 26(2)(a) and seven years under Section 27(1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act—along with a fine of Tk50 lakh.

Tuku appealed the verdict, and the High Court acquitted him on June 16, 2011. The ACC then challenged the High Court decision, and on January 21, 2014, the Appellate Division annulled the acquittal and ordered a rehearing.

Tuku subsequently filed an application for review of the Appellate Division’s verdict, which was later dismissed. The rehearing in the High Court Division continued, and on May 30, 2023, a bench comprising Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat upheld the original sentence. Tuku later filed another appeal against that verdict, which was accepted by the Appellate Division on Thursday.