HC Verdict on TAC Yet to be Released

ACC waits for legal advice on corrupt suspects

16 April 2010, 18:00 PM

Ashutosh Sarkar

The attorney general's office could not decide whether legal action can be taken against 452 self-declared corrupt people, as the copy of the High Court (HC) verdict on the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) has not yet been released. In a letter on February 4, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) requested the attorney general to give legal advice on whether it can start legal proceedings against the 452 people who had disclosed their illegal assets to TAC and sought clemency during the military-backed caretaker government, sources said. Asked about the ACC's request, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star recently that his office cannot give any legal opinion without going through the full text of the HC verdict on TAC. In November 2008, the HC upon a writ petition declared illegal and unconstitutional the Voluntary Disclosure of Information Ordinance-2008 through which the caretaker government had formed the TAC. Under the ordinance, 452 people had sought clemency and pledged to pay Tk 36 crore they earned through illegal means. Of the amount, Tk 34 crore has been realised by TAC, sources said. However, ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan said there is no bar on ACC taking legal action against these corrupt people, as they were not tried for their individual offences. Advocate Asaduzzaman, a lawyer for the petitioners who filed the writ challenging the TAC ordinance, said the corruption suspects, who returned their ill-gotten money to the TAC, should be subjected to prosecution under the laws and rules of the ACC. On August 25 in 2008, Awami League leader Dipu Moni, now foreign minister, SC lawyer Adilur Rahman Khan, Ubinig Executive Director Farida Akhter and Odhikar's acting director Nasiruddin Elan filed the writ petition as public interest litigation (PIL). On November 13, 2008, an HC bench of Justice Mir Hasmat Ali and Justice Shamim Hasnain declared illegal and unconstitutional the Voluntary Disclosure of Information Ordinance-2008. But the copy of the judgement has not been released yet, Advocate Asaduzzaman said on Thursday. On August 3, 2008, the caretaker government formed TAC under the ordinance promulgated by the then president on June 8 the same year. The tenure of the commission expired on January 2 last year.