HC rejects S Alam’s verbal prayer seeking probe order cancellation

The High Court did not accept the S Alam Group's prayer seeking revocation of its order asking authorities to probe the allegations published in a newspaper report that the business group chief owned undocumented properties abroad, said a court source.

The court said its order delivered on 6 August had already been signed and a prayer to recall it could not be accepted, said Khurshid Alam Khan, who represented the Anti-Corruption Commission, one of the respondents to the rule issued by the HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Khizir Hayat Lizu.

The bench ordered the ACC, along with the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit and Criminal Investigation Department, to submit their probe reports in two months after a Supreme Court lawyer brought the 4 August The Daily Star report headlined "S Alam's Aladdin's Lamp" to the bench's notice and sought directives. 

S Alam Group's principal lawyer Barrister Ajmalul Hossain QC on Sunday had made the verbal prayer seeking the order be revoked. 

"The court has asked the petitioner to move to the Appellate Division through proper legal process," ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam told The Business Standard.

The group's other lawyer Advocate Mohammad Saifullah Mamun told the media that they were preparing to file a written petition against the HC's 6 August order.

S Alam Group's lawyers could not be reached for comments.