ACC can probe allegations against Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha: Law minister

Law Minister Anisul Huq today said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will investigate the allegations raised against Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.

If the allegations are found true, a case will be filed against him, the minister said at a press conference at his secretariat office in Dhaka.

READ more: 11 'charges' against CJ

About the reasons behind the CJ’s leave, Anisul said the CJ and the Supreme Court authorities have sent separate letters to the president saying that he is sick and he needs rest.

The letters sent by the CJ and the SC authorities are official documents which demonstrate that he is sick.

The law minister claimed that some vested quarters have been creating controversy over the CJ’s leave and going abroad for political gain as they have no any reasonable political issue.

“Some idiots in the TV talk show said that I have lied about the CJ’s leave and illness, I want to say that I had never made any falsehood in my professional life as an advocate and as a law minister, those idiots who have been saying so have committed falsehood,” he told journalists at the press briefing.

A day after the CJ left the country for Australia, the Supreme Court yesterday in a statement said that he is going to face 11 charges, including money laundering and corruption.

President Abdul Hamid informed the judges of the SC's Appellate Division about the allegations last month and they discussed the allegations with Justice Sinha, the statement mentioned.

The SC release, signed by its Registrar General Syed Aminul Isalm, comes a day after Justice Sinha handed over a written statement to newsmen before leaving for Australia on Friday night.

Before leaving the country on Friday night, Justice Sinha said he was not sick, contradicting the government claim that he went on leave on health grounds earlier this month.

He spoke to reporters briefly in front of his Hare Road residence and handed them a signed statement, typed in Bangla, before heading to the airport.

In the statement, Justice Sinha said he was fully well, but embarrassed by the way he was criticised by a political quarter, lawyers, and especially the honourable prime minister and some ministers over a verdict.

He also said he was a “bit worried about the independence of the judiciary.”