Verdict on ex-Jubo League leader Samrat’s graft case on Wednesday
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A Dhaka court will deliver its verdict in a corruption case against ex-Jubo League leader Ismail Hossain Chowdhury Samrat over the illegal accumulation of wealth on Wednesday, February 25.
Dhaka Sixth Special Judge Zakaria Hossain will announce the verdict.
After hearing arguments, the case was set for verdict on February 9. On that day, Counsel Noor Alam presented arguments on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). As Samrat is absconding and being tried in absentia, no defence attended the hearing to present its arguments.
The case dates back to November 12, 2019, when the then ACC deputy director Md Jahangir Alam prosecuted Samrat, accusing him of amassing Tk 29.48 million in illegal assets.
The same official later investigated the case and submitted a chargesheet on November 26, 2020, bdnews24.com reports.
Samrat, once a prominent figure in the Dhaka South Jubo League, went into hiding after a Sepember 18, 2019 raid by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) near the capital’s Motijheel Club revealed illegal casino operations.
He was arrested on October 7, 2019 along with associate Enamul Haque Arman from Chauddagram in Cumilla.
That afternoon, RAB took Samrat to his Kakrail office at Bhuiyan Trade Centre for a raid.
After nearly five hours, the RAB said it recovered a foreign pistol with bullets, 1,160 yaba pills, 19 bottles of foreign liquor, two kangaroo hides, and an electric torture device.
The kangaroo skins led to Samrat being summarily sentenced to six months in jail by a mobile court under the Wildlife (Conservation) Act. Two separate cases under the Narcotics Control Act and the Arms Act were also filed at Ramna Police Station.
After being held in jail for 31 months, Samrat was granted bail in all four cases between April 10 and May 11, 2022, and released.
The charge sheet in the case was submitted to the court on November 26, 2020.
Following the political changeover, on July 17 last year the court framed charges against Samrat in the illegal wealth case and ordered the trial to open. His bail was revoked and an arrest warrant was issued.
Testimony in the case concluded on February 2, with the court recording statements from all 21 prosecution witnesses listed in the charge sheet.
Earlier, on October 28, Samrat was sentenced to life imprisonment in an arms case.