Own Correspondent: The court sentenced Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) sub-tax officer Ali Akbar, who was caught red-handed with bribe money, to four and a half years in prison.
On Sunday (April 30), Chittagong Divisional Special Judge Munshi Abdul Majeed gave the verdict, ACC counsel Kazi Chanwar Ahmed Labloo said. Sub-Tax Officer Ali Akbar Chasik was the in-charge tax officer of Revenue Circle-II. He was fired after he was caught with bribe money. His house is in Patia upazila of Chittagong.
According to the review of the relevant case documents, Ali Akbar demanded a bribe of Tk 50,000 from the caretaker of Raja Miar, a resident of the Rupali residential area of Chandgaon police station, for changing the ownership of the holding and reassessing the tax. Later, he agreed to do the work for 20 thousand rupees. On February 6, 2017, caretaker Jamal Uddin filed a written complaint in this regard at the ACC office.
Based on the complaint, ACC formed a seven-member team to trap Ali Akbar red-handed with bribe money. On February 7, 2017, at 11:50 am, Jamal Uddin went to Chasik’s revenue circle-2 office in Bahaddarhat Raw Market of the city. As soon as the bribe money was handed over to Ali Akbar, the ACC team raided and caught him. Twenty thousand rupees were seized.
In this incident, the then Assistant Director of ACC Chittagong District Office-2, HM Akhtaruzzaman, filed a case against Ali Akbar under Section 161 of the Penal Code and Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1947 at Chandgaon Police Station.
After investigating the case, on October 30, 2017, the then Assistant Director of Chittagong District Integrated Office-2, Zafar Alam, filed a charge sheet in court. On January 11, 2018, the court framed the charges against the accused, Ali Akbar, and ordered the trial to begin. The court gave this verdict after hearing the testimony of 10 of the 17 witnesses included in the charge sheet.
ACC PP Kazi Chanoar Ahmed Labloo in Chittagong said that the court has sentenced the accused to two years and six months of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Tk 50,000 for another six months under Section 161 of the Penal Code. Besides, under Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, he was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and three months of imprisonment in default of payment of a fine of Tk 20,000.
Accused Ali Akbar has been in jail since the trial in the case. Jamal Uddin, the main witness in the case, complained to the court that Ali Akbar threatened him not to testify. In addition, Ali Akbar sprinkled dry rose petals on him for the purported jharfuk in court so that he would refrain from testifying.
After receiving this complaint, the court canceled Ali Akbar’s bail and sent him to jail. He was taken from prison to court when the verdict was announced. Later, the court ordered him to be sent to jail.
