Finish graft cases’ trial in 60 days: SC

The Supreme Court administration has directed the lower courts concerned to finish the trial proceedings of the corruption cases in 60 days after taking cognizance of their charges.

The SC authorities issued a notification to this effect today for quickly dispose of the corruption cases.       

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The notification said divisional special judges' courts and special judges' courts have been formed in order to speedily settle the cases filed under the Anti-Corruption Commission law.

There is also a specific provision in the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1958 that these courts will finalise the trial proceedings of the corruption cases in 60 days after taking cognizance of their charges, it said.

Recently, it has been noticed that most of the district judges, sessions judges and metropolitan sessions judges keep these cases to their possessions or send the cases to additional sessions judges or joint session judges without sending them to the divisional special judges' courts for holding their trials. As a result, these divisional special judges' courts face shortages of cases for disposal.

Moreover, it has been noticed that these corruption-related cases are not being disposed by the divisional special judges' courts or special judges' courts in the fixed time and expected numbers.

In this circumstance, all district judges, sessions judges and metropolitan sessions judges were directed to dispose the corruption cases in the quickest time and to send such cases to divisional special judges' courts or special judges' courts in the stipulated time.

The divisional special judges' courts or special judges' courts have also been ordered to dispose of the cases by giving priority within the fixed time, the notification added.

ACC Director General (Legal and Prosecution) Moyeedul Islam has told The Daily Star last month that corruption cases have piled up over the years as the special courts that deal with them have been giving more emphasis on criminal cases since the enactment of the Special Court (Additional Charge) Act, 2003.

Identifying the problems, the ACC body wrote to the law ministry and the registrar general of the Supreme Court on September 8 for quick disposal of graft cases.

Until last year, the number of pending cases filed by the ACC was 3,097, of which Hallmark loan scam, BASIC Bank loan scam and Destiny and Bismillah groups' money laundering cases drew much attention.

Of the 3,097 cases, 2,660 were under trial and 437 remained stayed by the High Court on different grounds, according to the ACC's annual report of 2015.