The second case against deposed President Ershad on charges of amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income began yesterday (Wednesday) at the Special Judge Court headed by Divisional Judge Mohammad All Khan at a Gulshan house.
Deposing before the court as the first Prosecution Witness the informant of the case Deputy Director of the Bureau of Anti-corruption Salehuddin Ahmed said that the case was lodged as the accused usurped power to grab government property and thus accumulated a huge amount of money disproportionate to his known sources of Income.
Primary Evidence from the report of the Inventory Committee showed that an amount
of Taka 1.90,81,565 recovered from his Sena Bhaban residence was not compatible with his known sources of income. he added.
The accused Ershad submitted at the Court that he was surprised to see the list of the recovered items and the value placed against those. Taka two
He said that the articles recovered from his residence could have included gifts like the Quran Shafir.
Most of the items in his residence were gifts he said, adding that they were kept In the house as decoration pieces.
He said he had repeatedly urged that he or his wife be allowed to identify their goods.
The Prosecution Witness on his part gave a description of
the subject matters in the case recovered from the house of Ershad by the 8-member Inventory Committee headed by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Azizul Haque Bhuiyan.
The FlR^of the case was lodged with* the Cantonment Thana on January 8. 1991 under Section 1947 Anti-corruption Act 2 and Clause 5(2) and Penal Code 409 by the Bureau of Anti-corruption on the basis of the unofficial report received from the President's Secretariat, where it was sent by the Home Ministry. ’
Yesterday the Prosecution produced the informant as the first witness but he was not cross-examined by the De-
Only one question was asked by the Defence Lawyer Kazi Shahdat Hossain, who asked the witness whether the case was lodged at the instruction of the Home Mlnistiy.
The witness replied in the negative and said that he was convinced the offence was cognizable and that he had the primary evidence regarding the case.
Attorney General Amlnul Haque who was assisted by Deputy Attorney Generals Advocate Amlrul Kabir Chowdhury. Hasan Arif. PPs Abdur Razzak Khan. Farid Ahmed Bashir Ahmad and Mohammad Azad first examined the Prosecution Witness (PW).
On the other hand the Defence was represented by Barrister Kazi Shahdat Hossain. Yousuf Humayun. Mosharraf Hossain Kazal. Muflzur Rahman Mazumdar, Sharif Ahmed and others.
During the examination the Prosecution Witness Salauddin Ahmed further informed the Court that the Inventory Committee had also recovered 11 sets of gold ornaments. 60 sets of medals made of gold and silver. 164 pieces of elec-trqnlc goods. 579 pieces of crockeries, three motor guns Including one baby car, 971 pieces of clothes. 340 video tapes. 306 audio tapes. 206 pieces of furniture, and 3614 pieces of other materials.
The Witness said that immediately after shifting the deposed President from the Sena Bhavan to the Gulshan house No. 10 the Sena Bhavan was locked and sealed by a 13-member committee headed by the Log Area Commander of Dhaka Cantonment
He said that he found the house locked and sealed when he went there on December 1&
On that day tjie personal clothes of the former Presi-
dent and his family were handed over to the President's representative Mustafizur Rahman.
After that the house was again put under lock and seal.
Salehuddin Ahmed said that the Home Ministry formed the Inventory Committee on December 15 through a notification comprising of eight members. who made the inventory of the goods found in the Sena Bhavan.
The members of the Committee are the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Azizul Haque Bhuiyan (Chairman). Lt Col. Atlqur Rahman, representative of the Military Secretary to the President. Major Saiful Islam representative of the Military Headquarters. Talim Hossain representative of the Military Engineering Service. Mukltur Rahman representative of the PWD, Shamsher Alam former DC North, and Mustafizur Rahman representative of the ex-President.
The responsibility of the Committee was to identify the goods of the Sena Bhavan and dispose of those materials.
The Prosecution Witness said that the Inventory Committee prepared the list between December 22 and December 26 and submitted a report to the Home Ministry on December 29 as an unofficial note. The Home Ministry sent it to the President's Secretariat which again 'gave it to the Bureau of Anil-corruption.
At this stage the Prosecution Witness wanted to see the FIR to inform about the subject matters of the case. But the Defence Lawyer objected
to it saying that only the Investigation Officer was supposed to see the FIR and not any witness at the stage of deposition.
Attorney General Aminul Haque said that the witnesses are entitled to see the FIR under Section 159 para two of the procedure.
The Prosecution Witness however later informed everything without looking at the FIR.
Before the Court was adjourned till June 11. the accused again pleaded that he be allowed to see his Counsel Advocate Sirajul Haque face to face for consultations on the list of recovered items.
On the advice of the Judge Mohammad Ali Khan the Attorney General Aminul Haque assured he would arrange Er-shad's meeting with Ills Counsel.
Earlier, the Defence Counsel Kazi Shahdat said that the money recovered from the Sena Bhavan belonged to the Jatiya Party, which has filed a suit claiming it and as such it was not a case at all.
Shahdat also pleaded for deferring the case for at least 15 days to allow them to prepare for conducting the case as the arms case against Ershad had concluded Just last Tuesday.
The Attorney General opposed him saying that the charge of the case was framed on March 19 and the Defence had had enough time for preparations.
The learned Judge allowed the start of the hearing of the case. He afterwards considered the Defence petition and set June 11 for the next hearing.