Brac Bank authorities have paid Tk5 lakh out of Tk15 lakh as compensation ordered by the High Court to Jahalam, who suffered in jail for three years instead of the real accused in several corruption cases. .
The bank's lawyer Asaduzzaman confirmed the payment on Thursday.
A resident of Tangail, Jahalam had been in jail since February 2016 in 33 cases in place of the real accused, Abu Salek, on charges of embezzling Tk18 crore from Sonali Bank.
Jahalam was freed from jail on February 4, 2019, after the High Court acquitted him in 26 cases in which charges had been pressed.
On July 11, 2019, the ACC submitted its report to the High Court.
The report revealed that a mistake by the investigation officers of the anti-graft watchdog resulted in the wrongful conviction of Jahalam.
Earlier in 2019, a national daily published a report titled “Sir, I am not Jahalam Salek…” about the wrongly accused jailed in 33 cases.
Supreme Court Lawyer Amit Dasgupta brought the report to the attention of the court.
After that, the High Court bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahsan and Justice KM Kamrul Quader summoned four people including the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) official, the plaintiff in the case to explain the matter.
The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader issued the order after hearing a writ petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Later, on February 3, 2019, when the concerned people appeared, the High Court ordered the release of Jahalam and issued a rule in this regard.
He was released after the court issued a suo moto order and asked the ACC to submit case documents in the form of affidavits.
