Why should his legal fees not be probed?

The High Court yesterday issued a rule asking Bangladesh Bar Council to explain why it should not be directed to conduct a fair and impartial inquiry into the recent controversy centring the huge amount of legal fees reportedly taken by a Supreme Court lawyer.

The chairperson and secretary of Bangladesh Bar Council, the licensing and regulatory body of lawyers, have been made respondents to the rule, which should be responded to in four weeks.

Yousuf Ali, the lawyer for former workers and employees of Grameen Telecom, has reportedly taken Tk 12 crore as fees for conducting their cases and reaching a settlement with the company.

The HC bench of Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury and Justice Md Zakir Hossain issued the rule, following a writ petition filed by another SC lawyer, M Ashraful Islam, on Wednesday, seeking necessary directives.

Citing the petition, Ashraful told The Daily Star that many online news portals and some leading national dailies published reports mentioning unusual transactions involving Yousuf's personal, business, and his associates' accounts.

In total, six accounts were frozen by Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, he said.

Deputy Attorney General Pratikar Chakma represented the state during the petition's hearing.

Yousuf Ali could not be contacted for comments.