Former Minister of Communication and Information Technology Abdul Razaq Wahidi who was sentenced to three years in prison on charges of corruption and misuse of authority was acquitted by the appeals court of the Anti-Corruption Criminal Justice Center on Sunday.
The appeals court of the Anti-Corruption Criminal Justice Center (ACJC), which has been established to assess big corruption cases, on Saturday held a hearing for Mr. Wahidi, who is charged with misuse of authority and graft.
Wahidi is accused of misusing his authorities when he was serving as the deputy finance minister in 2015.
He was imprisoned on April 2019 after the Anti-Corruption Criminal Justice Center held a hearing in his absence.
His case in the Ministry of Finance landed in the Supreme Court early in January 2019 and the final verdict was approved on last month in which he was sentenced to three years in prison.
The hearing on Monday continued for a few hours, but it was adjourned for Sunday, July 21, when the judge will announce its verdict about Mr. Wahidi.
“It is over 4 pm and we will ask you here tomorrow for announcing the verdict,” said Anisa Rasuli, the ACJC appeals court judge.
Wahidi said the case against him has been made based on “political conspiracies”.
“I was very disappointed that some people around me were convicted and their dignity was damaged from a very small issue with no evidence. For me, it is not important, because I fight for justice and accept anything in this fight,” Wahidi said.
Wahidi was nominated as minister of communications in 2015 and served as a minister until early 2017.
He was once again accused of “corruption” in the collection of 10 percent levy on telecom services and was suspended from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in early 2017.
However, he was acquitted by a special court in 2017.
