Court Delays Charge Hearing Against Tulip and Mosharraf Again
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A Dhaka court has postponed for the third time the charge hearing in an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) case accusing Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and former RAJUK Assistant Legal Adviser Sardar Mosharraf Hossain of illegally obtaining an apartment in the capital's Gulshan-2 area.
The hearing has been rescheduled for Sept. 1.
Dhaka Special Judge's Court-5 Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun issued the order on Sunday after co-accused Mosharraf, who is out on bail. ACC prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam said the court accepted the request.
The charge hearing had previously been deferred on April 16 and May 6.
The ACC filed the case on April 15 last year, alleging that Tulip, former RAJUK Assistant Legal Adviser Shah Md. Khasruzzaman, and former Assistant Legal Adviser-1 Sardar Mosharraf Hossain illegally acquired an apartment from Eastern Housing Ltd. in Gulshan without making any payment.
After completing its investigation, the ACC submitted its charge sheet on Dec. 11, accusing Tulip and Mosharraf under multiple sections of the Penal Code, including forgery, use of forged documents, and criminal conspiracy, as well as Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947.
On Feb. 18, the court accepted the charge sheet and issued arrest warrants against the accused.
Later, on Feb. 26, the ACC sought court approval to request an Interpol Red Notice for Tulip's arrest. The court granted the application after a hearing.
A gazette notification directing the accused to appear before the court was published on March 8.
After the case was deemed ready for trial, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md. Sabbir Faiz transferred it to Special Judge's Court-5 on April 8 for formal charge proceedings.
According to the case statement, the accused allegedly abused their authority and acted in collusion to take possession of Apartment B/201 in an Eastern Housing building in Gulshan-2 without paying for it before later registering the property.
In a separate development, former RAJUK official Shah Md. Khasruzzaman filed a writ petition in the High Court in July last year seeking to suspend the investigation against him. The High Court stayed the investigation for three months. The ACC later appealed to the chamber court but received a ‘no order’ ruling.
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq has also been sentenced to a total of six years in prison in three separate cases involving alleged fraud in government plot allocations.
