Ambassador at a loss
The diplomatic community in Dhaka is irked by an unprecedented court summons on the Korean ambassador to Bangladesh in a clear violation of the Vienna Convention.
Last month's summons, however, was cancelled within two weeks earlier this month and the diplomat's name was altogether dropped from the suit yesterday.
“Though the summons was cancelled immediately, we are extremely displeased with this erroneous and inconsiderate action of the court which violates the Vienna Convention,” the ambassador, Lee Yun-young, told The Daily Star.
A senior foreign ministry official said he had never heard of any such incident in his long diplomatic career because diplomats were immune from criminal charges.
The Korean envoy was made an accused in a case filed in September 2011 by Abdul Kader Faruk, managing director of RN Spinning Mills Ltd in East Rampura. The main accused of the case were two top officials of Dayeung Industries Inc in South Korea.
Faruk demanded $1.38 lakh (Tk 97,10,679) from the Korean company in the case and the then judge, Mohiuddin Khan, accepted the case.
In the suit, the plaintiff requested the court to take necessary steps to realise the money.
The court issued the summons on the Korean envoy upon a petition on July 17 this year by the plaintiff.
Till July 24, however, the ambassador was unaware that he was an accused in the case. He could not first believe it when he received the summons that day from the first court of joint district judge, embassy sources said.
In the summons, Judge Fazley Elahee Bhuiyan asked him to appear before the court in person at 9:00am on September 10 to provide answers regarding the claim for the final disposal of the suit.
“…You must be prepared to produce on the day all the witnesses upon whose evidence and all the documents upon which you intend to relay in support of your defence,” the judge wrote.
Following the summons, the Korean envoy sent an urgent letter to the Bangladesh foreign secretary on August 4.
“I am writing to inform you with deepest disappointment and anger that the 1st Court of Joint District Judge in Dhaka has issued a notice of summons to me.
“I am extremely displeased by the fact that the summons was issued without any justifiable and reasonable explanation or background,” the letter reads.
He mentioned that the summons was a clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and that he had never known the plaintiff or had any relations with him.
"It looks unclear whether it is just an administrative mistake or the summons was based on a malicious and groundless claim.”
The ambassador further noted that such an imprudent and impolite action may hinder the normal activities of the Korean embassy in Dhaka and damage relations between the two countries.
Following the letter, the foreign ministry promptly wrote to the law secretary for urgent steps since the court had no jurisdiction to issue such summons as per Vienna Convention, which has given immunity to foreign diplomats in some areas.
Contacted, Law Secretary ASSM Zahirul Haque said there was no legal bar in issuing the summons, as the court wanted to know from the ambassador about the case.
But the court, he said, withdrew the order on its own.
Asked whether the court could issue any such summons, a senior official at the foreign ministry said diplomats were immune from criminal charges only but civil suits like non-compliance of house rent and salary of local staff could be brought against them.
Another diplomat categorically said the Korean ambassador could not be a party in the case as the persons and company accused in the case were private individuals. The court can ask the foreign ministry to inform the mission concerned to take appropriate steps.
In his order to withdraw the summons on August 7, Judge Fazley Elahee said, “As per diplomatic norms Ambassadors/High Commissioners get immunity in most areas and enjoy VVIP status.”
Besides, he said, the court had issued a show cause notice asking the plaintiff to reply within seven days why the ambassador was included on the defendants' list.
According to a foreign ministry official, the court might have passed the order unknowingly.
Yesterday, the court dropped the ambassador's name from the suit.
“I think that the Ambassador of the Republic of South Korea is an unnecessary party of this suit," said Elahee in the order.
A competent source at the Korean embassy said the mission had received the order from the court yesterday.
“This is a rare incident…very surprising...it will send a wrong signal abroad,” a Bangladeshi diplomat posted abroad told this correspondent by phone yesterday.
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