The High Court has summoned Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Md Jahangir Alam to appear before it on February 22 to explain his position over the exemption of all the 25 accused in a corruption case filed over misappropriation of Tk 4.88 billion from the ICB Islamic Bank, formerly known as Oriental Bank Limited.
The court also asked the ICB Islamic Bank’s managing director to explain the matter within the same period.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order while hearing a writ petition filed over the misappropriation on Wednesday.
The court also issued a rule upon the concerned bodies of the government to explain as to why the exemption of all the 25 accused of the corruption case should not be declared illegal.
Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Financial Intelligent Unit (BFIU), ICB Islamic Bank, ACC and other respondents have been asked to comply with the rule.
According to the case documents, Bangladesh Bank conducted a special inquiry into the alleged corruption and prepared a report in 2007. The central bank later sent the report to the Oriental Bank authorities and asked them to take legal action against the responsible persons.
The Oriental Bank authorities filed a case against 25 accused taking the BB report as a basis. The ACC got the responsibility of investigating the case. After investigation, the ACC deputy director Md Jahangir Alam on December 23 in 2013 submitted a final report in which it exempted all the accused from the charges.
After getting exemption from the charges, five of the accused of the corruption case filed by the Oriental Bank filed a writ petition in 2015 challenging the legality of the BB special report. While hearing the writ petition the court on Wednesday summoned the ACC official.
Lawyer Aneek R Haque appeared in the court on behalf of the writ petitioners, Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC, Munirujjaman Munir appeared for the Bangladesh Bank and deputy attorney general AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state.
bikashju@gmail.com