Gias Uddin’s 7-year jail sentence overturned

The High Court has overturned the seven-year jail sentence handed down by a lower court to Gias Uddin Al Mamun in a money laundering case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and acquitted him of all charges. 

A bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain passed the order on Thursday. Lawyers Omar Sadat and Sabbir Hamza represented the petitioner, while Asif Hasan appeared on behalf of the ACC.

On September 22, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against Gias Uddin Al Mamun at the Cantonment Police Station in Dhaka. The charges stated that M Shahjad Ali, the chairman of BTL and Globe Pharmaceuticals, was the Bangladesh agent for a Dutch contracting company that won a tender to modernize the railway signaling system.

However, in 2003, when the work order was finalized, Gias Uddin Al Mamun allegedly demanded an illegal commission for the work, threatening to cancel the order if his demand was not met. As a result, in 2004, Shahjad Ali deposited Tk 6,015,7762 (6 crore 1 lakh 57 thousand 762 Taka) into Mamun's NatWest Bank account in London.

On April 24, 2019, the Special Judge Court of Dhaka sentenced Gias Uddin Al Mamun to seven years in jail and imposed a fine of Tk 12 crore. The court also ordered the confiscation of 44,610.08 British pounds (equivalent to 6 crore 1 lakh 57 thousand 762 Taka) from Mamun's NatWest Bank account.

Mamun later appealed the ruling in the High Court. He was arrested on January 30, 2007, and was released from prison on August 6 this year.