Deputy Attorney General Jannatul Ferdousi Rupa’s bid to stall a graft probe against her has failed as the High Court has refused to hear her petition.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has asked the state’s legal officer to appear at the commission’s headquarters to question her on allegations of acquiring wealth beyond her known sources of income.
She was served with the notice of summons, asking her to appear before the investigators on November 4. Rupa moved the High Court challenging the legality of the notice.
However, on Monday, the bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Ahmed Sohel refused to hear the petition before dropping it from the cause-list.
According to the ACC notice, Rupa stands accused of acquiring wealth beyond her known income sources through irregularities, corruption, abuse of office, bribery and forgery.
It also said she had colluded with several accused individuals, including contractor Golam Kibria Shamim alias GK Shamim.
According to the graft watchdog, the deputy attorney general took bribes from Shamim and helped him in various irregularities and corruption.
On October 28, the ACC served Deputy Attorney General Rupa with the summons for allegedly assisting various accused, including Shamim, in securing bail and thus amassing illegal wealth in the process.
The letter notes that the deputy attorney general took bribes from Shamim.
In September 2019, Shamin was arrested for alleged extortion and tender manipulation.
The Rapid Action Battalion raided his house and office at Niketan in Dhaka's Gulshan and seized eight firearms, a huge quantity of ammunition, fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) worth Tk165 crore, about Tk1.80 crore in cash, a large stash of US and Singaporean dollars and some foreign liquor. Three cases were initiated against him.
Shamim had made a fortune as a contractor and identified himself as a Jubo League leader. He was known to be an influential contractor in the neighbourhoods of Sabujbagh, Bashabo and Motijheel in Dhaka. He made headlines for his influence over the Public Works Department in securing contracts.
In March this year, the High Court withdrew an order granting him bail in two cases involving possession of illegal arms and drugs, citing a possible mix-up over his name.