The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) may launch an investigation into the corruption allegations against Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.
Law Minister Anisul Huq made the statement on Sunday, a day after the Supreme Court cited 11 charges, including graft, money laundering, financial misappropriation and moral lapse, against Sinha, reports bdnews24.com.
"Almost all of the allegations against him fall under the purview of the Anti-Corruption Commission. So you can assume who will lead the probe," Huq told the media in his office.
"These allegations need to be probed. A case will be filed if they are found to be true. Everything will be done under the law," the minister said.
Asked why the government allowed the chief justice to leave the country in the wake of the barrage of allegations, he said that Justice Sinha was still the chief justice according to the law.
"The chief justice is an institution and a constitutional position. So any hasty step against him will be inappropriate."
"A political quarter is trying to create a controversy as they ran out of things to talk about. Those who were trying to create a controversy had political agenda, which they failed to achieve," he said in clear reference to the BNP and its allies.
Talaking about the written statement of chief justice, the law minister said he was shocked to learn that Sinha dismissed the reports of his illness.
"I am shocked at what he said. He wrote to the President that he was ill, and seven days later he says he's fine. We should have asked him to undergo a medical test in the very beginning, but we did not do that," the minister said.
Before heading to the airport on Friday, Sinha said he was ‘not sick, but embarrassed’ by criticism by ruling Awami League leaders over the 16th amendment verdict, contradicting his letter publicised by Law Minister Huq.
In a written statement, he said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may have been ‘hurt' because 'a quarter misinterpreted the verdict to her'.
The Supreme Court on Saturday issued a rare statement with damning allegations that tainted the top judge’s career, just three and a half months before his retirement.
The statement signed by the top court’s Registrar General Syed Aminul Islam came, hours after Justice Sinha left for Australia on Friday amid harsh criticism by the ruling party stalwarts for scrapping the 16th constitutional amendment.
