Why former Gazipur mayor’s punishment not enhanced, HC asks

The High Court issued a rule today asking the state to explain why the one-year prison sentence, delivered by a lower court in a corruption case, to former Gazipur City Corporation Mayor MA Mannan should not be enhanced.

On November 18, 2020, a Dhaka court delivered the sentence to Mannan for embezzling around Tk 50 lakh through fake vouchers. Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case.

At the same time, the trial court fined Mannan Tk 50 lakh and ruled that he will be sentenced to three more months in jail, defaulting to pay the fine.

Today, the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim came up with the rule, following a petition filed by the ACC, seeking enhancement of Mannan's jail sentence.

In the petition, the ACC said there is a specific allegation against Mannan of embezzling state money, but the trial court has sentenced him to only one-year imprisonment and fined him Tk 50 lakh, which is not sufficient.

The HC bench set April 11 for hearing the rule.

Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC, while Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state.

DAG Manik told The Daily Star that Mannan has been granted bail by a lower court in the case.

The ACC on June 23, 2016, filed the case with Joydebpur Police Station against Mannan and his accomplice Golam Kibria.

According to the allegations in the case, while MA Mannan was the mayor of Gazipur City Corporation (August 18, 2013 to February 2, 2015), he allegedly showed 999 fraudulent vouchers of grants and expenses, also embezzling Tk 49,01,848 of the city's fund for relief and the poor.