Fraud case against former Cox’s Bazar DC, District Judge among five: Defence seeks reconsideration of charge framing

Defence lawyers have filed a petition seeking reconsideration of the charges framed in a fraud case against former Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md Ruhul Amin, former District and Sessions Judge Md Sadikul Islam Talukder, and three others.

Although Thursday was fixed for hearing the unfinished testimony of the complainant following the framing of charges, the hearing did not take place as a result. The court has now set 20 October for recording the testimony.

Public Prosecutor (PP) for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Mokarram Hossain, confirmed that Judge Mizanur Rahman of the Chattogram Divisional Special Judge Court, conducting a circuit court in Cox's Bazar, gave this decision today (11 September) afternoon.

He said ACC investigations had found that forged documents were used to remove the former DC's name from a corruption case involving the embezzlement of Tk23 crore in land acquisition compensation under the Matarbari coal power project. 

On 1 July this year, the Chattogram Divisional Special Judge framed charges against five accused in the case, starting the trial. The complainant's testimony began but remained unfinished, with 11 September set for continuation. However, the defence objected that the charges were not framed properly, submitting a petition for reconsideration. Consequently, testimony could not proceed.

The ACC lawyer said: "At this stage of trial, such an application has no legal basis. It is merely a delaying tactic. If they want to challenge charges, they must go to the higher court, which alone can decide. The same court that framed charges cannot reconsider them."

According to court records, on 19 November 2014, Matarbari resident AKM Kaiserul Islam Chowdhury filed a case with the Cox's Bazar Senior Special Judge Court against then DC Ruhul Amin and 27 others over embezzlement in the land acquisition process. The court ordered the ACC to investigate. Soon after, then District and Sessions Judge Sadikul Islam allegedly altered the documents sent to ACC headquarters, removing Ruhul Amin's name as the number one accused.

Once this became known, complainant Kaiserul filed another case against Ruhul Amin, Sadikul Islam, and five others on charges of forgery. Following investigation, ACC Deputy Director Riaz Uddin submitted a report on 1 July 2024 indicting five individuals.

The investigation found that on 19 November 2014, complainant's lawyer Advocate Mostak Ahmad Chowdhury submitted case documents to the court's administrative officer Farid Ahmad. The next morning, a court employee, Syed Akbar, was sent to post the documents, but was called back and ordered to send them instead through court stenographer Jafar Ahmad to the District and Sessions Judge. Using various manoeuvres, the DC's name was omitted from the case.

The investigation further revealed that although the original criminal complaint register listed 28 accused, three pages were later replaced to show Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Md Jafar Alam as the first accused, with Ruhul Amin's name omitted. The complainant's signature was forged to reduce the accused from 28 to 27 before sending the file to the ACC. CID handwriting experts confirmed the forgery.

According to the ACC and court, 1,414 acres were acquired for the Matarbari power plant project, with Tk237 crore allocated in compensation, including Tk46 crore for shrimp enclosures. By falsely showing 25 non-existent shrimp enclosures, more than Tk19.82 crore was embezzled, with further misappropriation through other means.

Former Cox's Bazar DC Ruhul Amin was jailed in a corruption case in 2017 but later released on bail. He had earlier been dismissed from service. Former District Judge Sadikul Islam is now retired. 

The three other accused are Advocate Mostak Ahmad Chowdhury of the District and Sessions Judge Court, Nazir (treasury officer) Swapon Kanti Pal of the DC's office, and stenographer Jafar Ahmad of the same court.

All five accused appeared in the dock today.