The High Court (HC) has told the Anti-Corruption Commission to erase its cancer of corruption.
The court also ordered the corruption watchdog to submit its investigation report over Jahalam scandal within July 11.
The HC bench of justices FRM Nazmul Ahasan and KM Kamrul Kader also ordered on Thrusday that Jahalam be compesated for three years of wrongful imprisonment due to mistaken identity.
Advocate Kurshid Alam Khan represented the commission and Advocate Amit Dasgupta stood for Jahalam.
The bench told Khurshid that corrupt ACC officials should be fired. “No corrupt person should be in the Anti-Corruption Commission.” The judges said that the commission is an autonomous body and wanted it to remain transparent.
Justice KM Kamrul Kader said, Bangladesh’s economy is going through a golden age, which could increase financial crimes. He said the commission had a lot of authority and should work honestly. “Eradicate the cancer of corruption if there are corrupt people working there.”
An Appellate Division bench headed by the Chief Justice, on June 13, dismissed the ACC petition to stay Jahalam’ compensation hearing.
Advocate Amit Dasgupta, in light of the dismissal, said now there were no legal restrictions to continue the hearing for Jahalam's compensation.
The ACC petition argued that the High Court bench of Justices Ahasan and Kader did not have jurisdiction over the case.
ACC counsel Kurshid Alam Khan suggested that the case be transferred to another High Court bench.
In 2016, Jahalam was mistakenly arrested as Abu Salek who was accused in 33 ACC cases of loan fraud and embezzlement of nearly Tk 18.5 crore from Sonali Bank.
Jahalam was released three years later once it was brought to the High Court’s attention that it was not Salek who was behind bars.
The High Court, on January 28, summoned representatives from the Anti-Corruption Commission, home and law ministries and the ACC investigation officer to explain why Jahalam, an innocent man, had spent three years in jail.
