ACC places report on probe officials to HC

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday produced names and relevant particulars of its 11 officials who were investigating 26 corruption cases in which jute mill worker Jaha Alam was wrongly implicated and suffered in jail for three years -- before the High Court.

The officials are: Abdullah Al Jahid, Sheikh Mesbah Uddin, Md Masudur Rahman, Debabrata Mondal, Selina Aktar Moni, Sumitra Sen, Silvia Ferdous, Meftahul Jannat, Muhammad Joynal Abedin, Md Saiduzzaman and Rafi Md Nazmus Sadat.

ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan placed a report before the court during hearing of a suo moto (voluntary) rule, as per its earlier order.

After receiving the report, the HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader set October 24 for further hearing on this issue.

On August 21, the bench asked ACC to submit the report before it by yesterday.

The court passed the order after ACC submitted a compliance report before it, saying departmental cases have been lodged against 11 officials who probed the corruption cases against Jaha Alam.

The court also asked ACC to specifically mention the reasons in the report why the departmental cases were filed against the officials.

Earlier on July 11, ACC had placed a probe report before the HC where it mentioned that ACC investigation officials were responsible for erroneously incriminating Jaha Alam in corruption cases, which resulted in him languishing in prison for three years.

“It seems that the mistake of identifying Jaha Alam as Abu Salek happened because of the investigation officials,” said the report prepared by ACC Director (legal wing) Abul Hasnat Md Abdul Wadud. Describing the extent of the officials’ carelessness, the report said ACC officials investigated the cases, but none of them visited Jaha Alam’s house.

Some bank officials and references of Salek’s bank accounts misled the investigation officials, it mentioned.

“It is the duty of investigators to unearth the truth and present it before the court. There is no scope for shifting this duty to bank officials or someone else,” the report said.

In 2012, the ACC filed 33 cases against a number of individuals over misappropriation of Tk 18.5 crore from Sonali Bank. Abu Salek, a businessman, was made accused in 26 of those cases. But the ACC identified Jaha Alam as Salek. He was arrested in 2016 and sent to jail.

When the issue of wrongly implicating Jaha Alam surfaced in the media, the HC intervened and ordered his release. He was released from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur on February 4.