ACC files case against former SC judge, wife
Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday filed a case against Justice Md Joynul Abedin, a former apex court judge who went on retirement on December 31, 2009 and his wife.
ACC assistant director Hafizur Rahman filed two cases on Sunday in Dhaka Co-ordinated District Office-1.
On Monday, Senior Special Judge of the court of Dhaka Metropolitan KM Imrul Quais accepted the date and fixed the date of submission of the inquiry report on August 28.
According to sources, ACC opened the investigation against the former Supreme Court judge in 2010. The ACC named Md Joynul Abedin and his wife in connection with an investigation into allegations of illegal wealth acquisition.
On July 7 of that year, Justice Md Joynul Abedin and his wife were given notice to submit a wealth statement.
On August 7 of that year, they submitted their report to the secretary of the commission. After the long verification, the case was filed.
The case record also said that Justice Md Joynul Abedin concealed the assets of Tk 3 lakh 25 thousand.
On the other hand, Joynul Abedin’s wife Hasina Abedin earned Tk 4 lakh 39 thousand 276 with unknown source of income. The second accused in the case is Justice Md Joynul Abedin.
Sources said ACC got the letter from the Supreme Court after the watchdog body initiated an investigation into the graft allegation against Justice Md Joynul Abedin.
On July 18, 2010, the ACC issued a notice to former Justice Md Joynul Abedin over a probe into the allegation against him.
The commission launched the investigation into the allegation against Justice Joynul after Awami League assumed power through the polls held during the tenure of last caretaker regime led by Fakhruddin Ahmed.
In the letter, the Supreme Court says Justice Joynul was a judge of the High Court Division and the Appellate Division. During his long judicial career, he delivered judgments in many serious cases.
The judge awarded death sentence to many offenders in murder cases. Following his orders, many condemned prisoners were hanged. If the ACC takes any step against an apex-court judge, all the verdicts and decisions passed by him will be put on question, says the SC.
It will not be appropriate on the part of the anti-graft watchdog to initiate any proceedings against Justice Joynul, the SC letter reads.
Quoting Article 111 of the Constitution, the SC letter says all the authorities concerned are bound to comply with the orders of the apex court.
As lawyer Md Badiuzzaman Tarafdar drew the HC’s attention to the letter, the court issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why the letter shall not be illegal.
The High Court cleared through a verdict in 2017 on the legality of a letter sent by the Supreme Court to the Anti-Corruption Commission asking it to halt investigation into a graft allegation against retired apex court judge Joynul Abedin.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
