HC summons all documents of corruption investigation against 17 Biman CBA leaders
The ACC has been directed to submit the documents to the court within two weeks
The High Court has summoned all the documents of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in connection with the investigation into allegations of corruption against 17 people who were CBA leaders of Biman Bangladesh Airlines seven years ago in 2014.
The ACC has been directed to submit the documents to the court within two weeks. The court has fixed 9 March for the next order.
A High Court bench comprising of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Taludkar and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order on Thursday.
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The court passed the order in response to an appeal filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB). Advocate Manzil Morshed was the lawyer for the petitioner while Advocate MA Aziz Khan represented the ACC. Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik stood for the state.
The ACC on Thursday submitted a report on 17 CBA leaders following the High Court's 28 January order. In the report, the ACC informed the court that the CBA leaders appeared before the ACC and spoke. But the ACC did not say what they said or whether the allegations against them were true. After seeing the report, the writ petitioner's lawyer Advocate Manzil Morshed appealed to submit the relevant documents to the court. The court then ordered the ACC to submit all documents related to investigation against the 17 CBA leaders.
The CBA leaders whose investigation documents the court has summoned are Md Mosikur Rahman (President), Azaharul Imam Majumder, Anwar Hossain, Md Yunus Khan, Md Montasar Rahman (General Secretary), Md Rubel Chowdhury, Md Rafiqul Alam, Md Atiqur Rahman, Md Harun Rashid, Abdul Bari, Md Firozul Islam, Asma Khanam, Abul Kalam, Md Abdus Sobhan, Golam Kaiser Ahmed, Md Abdul Jabbar and Md Abdul Aziz.
They were the CBA (Biman Sramik League) leaders of Biman Bangladesh Airlines in 2014. On 12 January, 2014, the ACC gave them a notice to appear before the ACC on 26 January. But those leaders refused to appear before the ACC and the commission did not take any further action.
After the ACC failed to react, a report was published in a national daily on 29 January of that year under the headline 'Biman's CBA leaders defy ACC's notice'.
Attaching the report, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh filed a writ petition with the HC. On 10 February of that year, the High Court passed a rule on the writ, seeking to know why the ACC's inaction will not be declared illegal.
During the hearing on the rule on 28 January, the court directed the ACC to inform on February 25 about the steps taken regarding the issue. In this situation, the HC summon summoned all investigation documents.
