ACC sues ex-judge Motahar for illegal wealth

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Sunday filed a case against former judge Motahar Hossain, accusing him of amassing illegal wealth totalling Tk 12.35 lakh in undisclosed income.

The commission’s Deputy Director Jalal Uddin Ahammed filed the case with its integrated district office-1 in Dhaka, said ACC spokesperson M Arif Sadiq.

Earlier on Thursday, the ACC approved the graft case against Motahar Hossain at its regular meeting held at the commission’s Segunbagicha headquarters in the capital.

During its investigation, the ACC found an inconsistency between his income and wealth statement and discovered Tk 12.35 lakh in undisclosed income.

In 2013, Motahar Hossain, a judge of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court at the time, came under fire after he acquitted Tarique Rahman, the elder son of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, in a money-laundering case involving Tk 20.41 crore.

The ACC launched an investigation into Motahar Hossain after he was accused of illegally amassing vast movable and immovable wealth and laundering the money abroad while serving as a judge.

Motahar was last seen in Malaysia after the verdict in the Tarique Rahman case. ACC officials do not have any information on his current whereabouts.