Writ filed seeking probe into corruption of lower court judges

A writ petition has been filed in the High Court, calling for an investigation into the assets and corruption of nearly fifty judges and judicial officials from the country’s lower courts.

Advocate Md Amimul Ehsan Jubair submitted the public interest writ on Monday, at the Supreme Court.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Law, the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), and the Registrar General of the Supreme Court, among others, have been named as respondents in the writ.

According to the petitioner, the writ is expected to be heard on December 10 by the High Court bench comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury.

This writ references a report published in a national daily on October 16, titled "Unbelievable Wealth of Nearly Fifty Judges and Officials: Hundreds of Crores in Their Accounts." The report has been attached to the petition.

The report claims that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has found evidence of astonishing wealth accumulated by more than fifty officials within the judiciary. Many of these officials have allegedly acquired hundreds of crores of taka through illegal means. Some possess assets worth thousands of crores, including luxurious apartments both domestically and internationally.

Several individuals have bought houses in the Begumpura area of Canada, while others have acquired ownership of hundreds of bighas of land. Through a covert investigation, the ACC’s intelligence branch uncovered evidence of corruption involving 51 judicial officials. The ACC has also obtained information about undeclared assets held in the names of others.

ACC sources suggest that a public investigation into these officials will commence soon. It is believed that the inquiry will reveal additional undisclosed assets held in others' names. Once the necessary evidence is collected, legal action will be taken against the officials involved.

According to findings from the ACC’s investigation, over the past decade, especially after the controversial national election on January 5, 2014, and with the appointment of Anisul Huq as law minister, the judiciary has gradually become tarnished. These officials, having gained the minister’s trust, became involved in abuses of power, irregularities, corruption, fraud, and forgery.