The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) says it did not find any evidence backing Barrister Nazmul Huda's allegations against former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha of corruption and abusing office.
It has now decided to prosecute Huda, the president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Alliance (BNA), on charges of bringing false charges, ACC Director General (special investigation) Sayeed Mahbub Khan said on Wednesday (Dec 4).
On Sep 27 last year, Huda filed the case with Dhaka's Shahbagh Police, which forwarded the case to the ACC.
A former BNP minister and later expelled from the party, Huda had accused the then-chief justice Sinha of "influencing a High Court bench" to issue an order against him in 2017.
He also brought charges of abuse of office and bribery against Sinha.
Huda was sentenced to seven years in jail and his wife Sigma Huda to three years in a case started during the 2007-08 military-installed caretaker administration on bribery charges involving Tk 24 million.
The High Court acquitted them in 2011 following their appeal, but the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court cancelled the High Court verdict and ordered a rehearing of the couple’s plea following the ACC’s petition.
Sinha was an Appellate Division judge at the time.
After the rehearing, another High Court bench upheld the conviction of the couple but reduced Huda’s sentence in November 2017.
A former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Huda was a top leader of the BNP once. He had also served as communication minister in Khaleda Zia administration.
After being expelled from the BNP in 2010, he had formed Bangladesh Nationalist Front, Bangladesh Manobadhikar Party, Trinamool BNP and finally the BNA alliance.
Ahead of the 2018 national elections, around the same time when sued Sinha, Huda launched a failed bid to join the Awami League-led coalition in an effort to contest the parliamentary polls.