Court withdraws warrant, clearing way for Mirza Abbas's release

A Dhaka court today withdrew the production warrant, which directs an accused to be produced in court, against BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas in a case filed in 2019 over amassing illegal wealth of Tk 20.76 crore.

The withdrawal of the warrant clears the way for Abbas to be released from jail, having earlier gotten ad-interim bail in the case filed over the Dec 7 Nayapaltan clashes between BNP men and police, court sources said.

Earlier in the day, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court upheld a High Court order that on January 3 granted six-month ad-interim bail to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Abbas.

Following the Appellate Division order there is no legal bar for Fakhrul and Abbas to get released from jail.

Judge Md Asaduzzaman of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court passed the order to withdraw the warrant after Abbas's lawyer submitted an application in this regard.

On Thursday, the same court granted the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC's) petition for a production warrant and directed jail authorities to produce Mirza Abbas, before it on January 16, in the case.

Abbas was arrested from his home around 3:00am on December 9 in connection with a case filed over the December 7 clashes with policemen at Nayapaltan.

On December 27 last year, ACC Deputy Director and the investigation officer of the case Nurul Huda submitted the charge sheet against Mirza Abbas and his wife Afroza Abbas to the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka.

Afroza Abbas was earlier granted bail by the High Court.

According to the charge sheet, Mirza Abbas was a member of parliament, minister and mayor of Dhaka City Corporation from 1991 to 1995. He was the housing and public works minister from 2001 to 2006. He obtained the wealth in the name of Afroza Abbas till August 16, 2007 through bribery and corruption by virtue of being a member of parliament, mayor and minister.

Afroza Abbas and her husband Mirza Abbas were charged under Section 27 (1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004, Section 109 of the Penal Code and also the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2008, 2009 and 2012, for committing the offence of illegal transfer of wealth, conversion and concealment of assets.

On July 7, 2019, the former assistant director of the ACC Salahuddin and investigation officer at the Shahjahanpur Police Station of the capital had filed the case alleging that Abbas had acquired assets worth Tk 20.76 crore.