Staff Reporter :
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is trying to lay down the responsibility on the shoulders of others for the Jahlam’s ordeal, who languished three years in jail instead of real accused.
Counselor of the ACC on Tuesday told the High Court that the ACC was not responsible for Jahlam imprisonment.
A report was filed yesterday with the High Court on behalf of the ACC saying that the cases against Jahlam were filed on basis of documents received from Bangladesh Bank and Sonali Bank. The ACC has no jurisdiction to avoid the documents provided by the banks.
Later the report was mentioned in the bench of Justice F R M Nazmul Ahasan and Justice K M Kamrul Kader in line with a previous order in this connection.
The bench may hold hearing on the matter today (Wednesday), ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told the reporters after submitting the report.
In replying to a query, the ACC lawyer said, “The ACC performed on the basis of the documents provided by the banks. Now the court will determine what the ACC’s responsibility is or the ACC is liable.”
Innocent Jahlam, who was in jail for the last three years instead of the real accused in 33 corruption cases, was released from prison on February 4 after a HC order.The HC on February 3 asked the ACC to submit their explanation in the court in this connection after the court had directed the jail authorities to release Jahlam. On that day the counselor of the ACC sought four weeks time from the court to submit their explanation and the court granted them time.
In its continuation, the ACC prepared a report in the form of affidavit on Tuesday to explain in the court. Besides, the ACC prayed to the court to make the five banks party in this case as those were involved in this incident.
Between 2010 and 2011, Abu Salek, a businessman, misappropriated about Tk 18 crore from Sonali Bank’s Cantonment Branch. Salek used a fake address to open an account with the bank, the ACC said.
Salek also had an account in another private bank, ACC sources said. In 2012, the anti-graft watchdog filed the 33 cases for the misappropriation, and Salek was made accused in most of them. During investigation, the commission asked the banks’ officials to identify and trace Salek.
The officials informed the ACC that the address provided by Salek in his bank documents was in Tangail’s Nagarpur, Jahlam’s village address, ACC sources said.
The commission then summoned Jahlam in its office where the bank officials, including the account’s introducers, were present.
Jahlam, a worker of Bangladesh Jute Mills at Ghorashal in Narshingdi, went to ACC and claimed that he was not Abu Salek and he did not have any account in the Sonali Bank and the picture which was used to open the account was not his picture.
But the bank officers, who were present in the ACC that day, identified Jahlam as Abu Salek. The ACC arrested Jahlam from Ghorashal in the month of February of 2016.
Later in the court, Jahlam described the issue of identity confusion and claimed himself innocent. But no one listened to him. So, he served the jail in place of Abu Salek and appearing in the court regularly.
Jahlam passed about three years in jail. But now ACC is saying that Jahlam is innocent. After an investigation the Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh gave the same opinion.
Recently, different media outlets reported that Jahlam was wrongly accused, after which the ACC investigated the matter further. Then the commission found Jahlam’s claim to be true.
On January 28, the HC bench issued a Suo Moto rule following a report published in a Bengali daily on the day under the headline “Wrong accused in jail in 33 cases : Sir, I am Jaha Alam, not Salek.” After hearing, the HC on February 3 directed the jail authorities to release Jahlam.
