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Download PDF The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has asked its counsels to take vigorous preparations to fight legal battle against graft-suspects at the High Court (HC) after the Eid and Durga Puja vacation.
The court is set to reopen on October 12 following the festival vacation.
The ACC yesterday held a meeting with its assigned lawyers and asked them not to be worried, though the corruption-suspects are obtaining bail from the HC and the case proceedings against them are being stayed.
Sources say the meeting was informed that as many as 383 writs and 241 quashment petitions were filed with the HC challenging legality of proceedings of the graft cases and seeking cancellation of the proceedings of the cases filed by ACC after the 1/11 changeover.
The sources add following those petitions the HC has stayed proceedings of about 200 cases and issued separate rules asking ACC and the government to explain why the proceedings of the cases should not be quashed and illegal.
The Appellate Division has stayed a few of the HC orders upon the ACC appeals.
According to the sources, at the meeting held at the conference room, ACC Commissioner Abul Hasan Manzur Mannan also solicited opinions from the lawyers about legal grounds on which the HC has granted bail to the accused and stayed the proceedings against them.
The lawyers told the ACC commissioner the HC has granted bail to the accused for temporary periods, stayed proceedings in the cases against them and issued the rules mostly on three points.
The points are — the ACC officials could not submit enquiry reports for filing cases against corruption-suspects within 30 days after getting charges of enquiry, they could not submit investigation reports within 60 days after filing the cases, and ACC did not give permission to the officials for filing the cases.
The lawyers also said the provisions for the time limits of submitting enquiry reports within 30 days, submitting investigation reports within 60 days and giving permission to the ACC officials to file cases are directory, not mandatory, and they would prove it before the HC during hearing of the rulings.
A counsel yesterday told The Daily Star the chief justice has recently constituted three special division benches of the HC for hearing the rules and appeals filed by the convicts in the ACC cases.
Sources say ACC, the government and individuals have filed graft cases against 1,139 people and ACC pressed charges in 188 cases in the courts.
The special judge’s courts set up at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises dealing with the graft cases have convicted over 100 people with imprisonments of different terms for committing corruption.
Over 30 of them have filed appeals with the HC against the conviction orders. The appeals will be heard at a special bench.
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