SC scraps Millat's conviction due to double jeopardy

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court verdict that scrapped six years' imprisonment of former BNP lawmaker M Rashiduzzaman Millat in a tax evasion case as he had been jailed earlier in another case for the same charges.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed an appeal filed by the government challenging the HC judgment.

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Millat's lawyer Bodruddoza Badal said a Dhaka court on November 28, 2007 jailed his client in the case filed by the National Board of Revenue on October 7, 2007 on charge of evading taxes amounting Tk 1 crore for concealing his wealth information. Following an appeal filed by Millat, the HC on August 17, 2010 acquitted him of the charges. He said the apex court upheld the acquittal as his client cannot be punished twice for the same charges. Earlier, a lower court had sentenced Millat to eight years' imprisonment in the case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission.