Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday stays for eight weeks a High Court order that asked to conduct a probe into the corruption allegations raised against Southeast Bank Chairman Alamgir Kabir.
Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Obaidul Hassan passed the order after holding hearing on a petition filed by Alamgir Kabir challenging the HC order.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared in the hearing on behalf of Alamgir Kabir in his personal capacity, while Advocate Manzill Murshid was in the opposition.
Following a writ petition, the High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman ordered to conduct an inquiry into the allegations raised against Southeast Bank Chairman Alamgir Kabir.
The Anti-Corruption Commission, Finance Ministry and Bangladesh Bank had been asked to comply with the order within three months and to submit a report in the court.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a rights organization, filed the writ petition on August 16 this year annexing some media reports.
The High Court also issued a ruling asking the respondents to explain in four weeks as to why the inaction of the respondents
in conducting a probe against the corruption allegations raised against Southeast Bank Chairman Alamgir Kabir should not be declared illegal.
It also wanted to know in the ruling as to why the respondents should not be directed to take legal action against Southeast Bank Chairman Alamgir Kabir on the basis of a report published in the newspapers on August 1 this year.
Finance secretary, ACC Chairman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Deputy Governor of Financial Intelligence Unit, Chairman of Southeast Bank Alamgir Kabir and Managing Director of the bank have been asked to comply with the ruling within four weeks.
The court fixed November 17 for further hearing on the petition, said Mr Manzill Murshid.
The lawyer said, “Despite allegations of corruption of huge amount against Alamgir Kabir, the ACC, Bangladesh or any other authority has not taken any action. However, Section 46 of the Bank Company Act 1991 and Section 19 of the ACC Act 2004 have directed to take action in case of such allegations. But neither the ACC nor Bangladesh Bank has taken any action to probe the allegations or to remove him.”
That is why we filed a writ petition as a public interest litigation, said the lawyer adding that if the court doesn’t interfere there will be no trace of money deposited by ordinary people like crippled financial institutions Basic Bank and People’s Leasing, added the lawyer.
