radar purchase case Ershad acquitted

Former military dictator HM Ershad and former Air Force chiefs Sultan Mahmud and Momtaj Uddin Ahmed were on Wednesday acquitted of the charges of corruption brought against them 24 year ago for purchasing three radars for Air Force in 1980s. 
Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah pronounced the verdict at a packed courtroom in presence of Ershad, also the Jatiya Party faction chairman, Sultan and Momtaz, observing that the prosecution failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove the charges.
Anti-Corruption Commission’s lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told reporters that he recommended that the commission should to appeal to the High Court against the verdict. 
Ershad, also special envoy to prime minister Sheikh Hasina, is facing eight more cases now pending with different courts, according to his statement submitted to the Election Commission.
The then Bureau of Anti-Corruption, now merged with the Anti-Corruption Commission, filed the case on May 4, 1992 alleging that former president Ershad and other accused caused a loss of Tk 64.04 crore to the state exchequer by purchasing low quality radars at high price from a US company for their personal gains.
The accused ignored purchase committee’s proposal for buying the radars from France at half of the price, according to complaint. 
Another accused, AKM Musa, who was the director of the United Traders, a local agent of the US company, Messers Norway Traders, was also acquitted of the corruption charges as he died while he was in hiding. 
It was the 26th cases, most of which were relating to corruption, in which Ershad was acquitted of the charges.
Ershad’s lawyer Sheikh Muhammad Serazul Islam said that Ershad was jailed for corruption for constructing Janata Tower at Tejgaon and he had served out three years’ term.
Of the eight cases against Ershad still pending with different courts, trial continued in three cases, including one filed against him on charge of killing Major General Abul Manzur, while proceedings of four cases had been stayed by the High Court.
The High Court is scheduled for May 9 to pronounce verdict on the appeal filed by Ershad against the three-year jail terms handed by the trial court to him in a graft case filed in 1991 for possessing illegal money of Tk 1.90 crore recovered from his Senabhaban residence.

- See more at: http://www.newagebd.net/article/13867/ershad-acquitted#sthash.yxsY9Ybj.dpuf