High Court withdraws GK Shamim’s bail

The High Court has withdrawn the orders which granted bail to expelled Jubo League leader GK Shamim in two arms and drugs cases.

On Sunday, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told newsmen, "GK Shamim secured bail by misrepresenting information. After the media published the news, we took steps to cancel the bail, and the court accepted it."

"If he goes to the appellate division against the High court orders, the state will fight strongly against the appeal," he added.

Two separate benches of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman, and of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Bishwadeb Chakraborty gave the orders to withdraw the bail granted to Shamim.

A High Court bench granted bail to Shamim for six months in a narcotics case, and another bench for one year in an arms case in the first week of February, his lawyer Shawkat Osman confirmed to the media on Sunday.

"The court could not guess that the bail petitions were for GK Shamim. The state filed recall petitions on Sunday to withdraw the bail orders by the same benches that issued them," said Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Jannatul Ferdousi Rupa.

During the hearing of the arms case, state lawyer DAG Fazlur Rahman informed the court that SM Golam Kibria Shamim alias GK Shamim stated his name as "SM Golam" in his bail petition and "SM Golam Kibria" in the cause list on February 6.

Responding to the information, the bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman said the court had granted bail to GK Shamim as it was confused by the names.

Later, another bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Bishwadeb Chakraborty also withdrew the bail granted to him in a drugs case, as the accused confused the court in the same way to secure bail.

Meanwhile, Law Minister Anisul Huq said there will be an investigation on how GK Shamim got bail in two cases without the knowledge of the prosecution.

The law minister said, "GK Shamim got bail from the High Court in the cases, but the prosecution didn't know. It's very unfortunate. We'll look into the matter."

"Hearing both the parties is needed in any case. It would be very unfortunate if there is any deviation on this. But if there is no deviation, then there will be an investigation into the deputy attorney general's claim that he didn't know anything about this," he added.

In a similar tone, former law minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed told The Business Standard that it is very unfortunate that a marked offender like GK Shamim got bail from the High Court.

He said, "The state party (Attorney General's Office) was negligent. A copy of a petition file goes to the attorney general's office, according the rules. But what did they do?"

Shamim's lawyer Advocate Momtazuddin Ahmed Mehedi told reporters that his client can submit a fresh petition at the High Court or an appeal at the Supreme Court for bail.

GK Shamim moved to the High Court after a special tribunal rejected his bail plea on November 27 last year.

On September 20 last year, a Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) team arrested Shamim, an influential contractor of the Public Works Department and an expelled Jubo League leader, on charges of extortion and tender manipulation. His bodyguards were also arrested.

That same day Rab raided his house and office in the city's Niketan area and seized eight firearms, a huge amount of ammunition, bank fixed deposits worth Tk 165 crore, around Tk 1.8 crore in cash, a large stash of US and Singaporean dollars and some foreign alcohol.

Later, Rab filed three cases under the Narcotics Control Act and Arms Act against Shamim at the Gulshan Police Station.

The Anti-Corruption Commission also filed a case against Shamim and his mother for amassing wealth worth Tk297.08 crore beyond known sources of income.