The High Court has issued a rule asking why two press briefings by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on allegations of corruption and money laundering against former interim government adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain should not be declared illegal, as its investigation into the allegations was still ongoing.
A High Court bench comprising Justice Md Bashir Ullah and Justice Md Hamidur Rahman issued the rule on Wednesday following a hearing on a writ petition filed by Asif Mahmud, a senior joint member secretary of the National Citizen Party (NCP).
Senior lawyers Mohammad Hossain and Barrister Yusuf Ali represented the petitioner, while lawyer Mahbubur Rahman Khan appeared for the ACC.
Earlier, on September 29, a vacation bench of the High Court had removed the writ petition from its cause list. The petition was later resubmitted for a hearing after the court vacation ended.
According to the petition, the ACC's deputy director and public relations officer, along with an assistant director, held separate press briefings on September 2 and 13. They announced that an initial inquiry into allegations of corruption and money laundering against Asif Mahmud had found preliminary evidence supporting the claims.
The writ petition argued that the statements violated Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees protection of an individual's dignity and reputation. It also claimed that the briefings breached the ACC's information disclosure policy.
At the September 2 briefing, the ACC said it had found preliminary evidence supporting several allegations against Asif Mahmud, including one involving 76 lakh taka.
However, an ACC official later described the statement as a "slip of the tongue" or an inadvertent error in a WhatsApp group of journalists.
At the September 13 briefing, the commission raised allegations of commission-based transactions worth hundreds of crores of taka involving the appointment of the Dhaka North City Corporation administrator and 36 deputy commissioners, the appointment of the chief engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), and tenders for various development projects.
The briefing also included allegations that around 11,000 crore taka had been laundered abroad.