Former ACC director Basir gets 8 yrs in jail in bribery case

A special court in Dhaka on Wednesday sentenced two top disgraced Bangladesh government officials to eight and three years in jail.

A special court in Dhaka on Wednesday sentenced two top disgraced Bangladesh government officials to eight and three years in jail, respectively, in a high-profile bribery case.
Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 Sheikh Nazmul Alam handed down the judgment after holding suspended Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director Khandaker Enamul Basir and suspended DIG Mizanur Rahman guilty in the case.
While Basir was sentenced to eight years in jail, Mizanur has been ordered to undergo three years imprisonment in the same case. A fine of Tk 80 lakh was also imposed on Basir in the case.
Earlier this month, the Dhaka court had fixed February 23 to pronounce the judgment in the bribery case against the two disgraced officials.
On January 3, the two pleaded "not guilty" in the case.
Three weeks later, ACC lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol concluded his arguments in the case and demanded capital punishment for both the accused.
Mizan was an additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). He was removed from the post on January 9, 2019, after he was accused of abducting a 25-year-old female anchor of a private news channel and forcibly marrying her.
He had also allegedly implicated her in a false case in which she was arrested and sent to judicial custody for three weeks.
The corruption case dates back to June 24, 2019, when ACC director Manjur Morshed lodged a complaint against the disgraced DIG, his wife Sohelia Anar Ratna, nephew sub-inspector Mahmudul Hasan and younger brother Mahbubur Rahman.
According to the case statement, Mizan accumulated wealth worth Tk 3.28 crore beyond his known sources of income. On the other hand, he had declared wealth worth Tk 3.7 crore in his tax statement.
Then director of ACC, Basir, was made the investigating officer in the case.
During the probe, Mizan had accused Basir of demanding Tk 40 lakh as bribe for setting the case, prompting the Commission to appoint director Monjur Morshed as the investigating officer in the case.
At the same time, a three-member probe body was formed, led by ACC director Sheikh Mohammad Fanafillah, to look into the allegations of bribery.
On July 16, 2019, Fanafillah lodged a complaint against both Mizan and Basir. And on April 16, 2020, a Dhaka court indicted the two and directed the official beginning of the trial in the case.
Another case is currently under trial against four people, including Mizan, filed over accumulation of ill-gotten assets and money laundering at the Dhaka Special Judge Court-6.