Last Updated on March 10, 2026 11:45 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam on Tuesday warned of strict action after audio recordings surfaced in which Tk1 crore was allegedly demanded from a defendant’s family to secure bail.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting, Aminul Islam said, “During my tenure, if any prosecutor or anyone else is found involved in any kind of irregularity or corruption, strict action will be taken. There will be zero tolerance on such issues.”
The controversy erupted after recordings allegedly captured former ICT prosecutor Saimum Reza Talukder asking the family of former Awami League MP for Chattogram-6, ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, for Tk1 crore, saying he could secure his release.
According to WhatsApp call recordings verified by matching call logs and Talukder’s voice, he told a family member: “If ultimately we could get him out, I mentioned then a fairly large amount. I mentioned one crore.” He also sought an advance, saying: “If around ten lakh could be given as an advance, that would be very good, in cash.” Chowdhury, a five-term MP from Raozan, is in jail after being arrested in connection with the killing of Wasim during the July 2024 uprising. He also faces crimes against humanity allegations linked to the killing of three people during student protests in Chittagong on July 16, 2024. The investigation later expanded to include deaths two days later. Produced before the ICT on February 16, 2025, he has been detained for over a year without formal charges and is also shown arrested in separate criminal cases. Family members said they never paid any bribe and continued the conversations to collect evidence.
After the allegation surfaced, then chief prosecutor Tajul Islam removed Talukder from the case but kept him at the tribunal. According to the recordings, Talukder later told the family he would return to the case after Tajul Islam was replaced and claimed that law minister Md Asaduzzaman had threatened him with arrest after seeing the recordings.
Talukder, a senior lecturer at Brac University with little trial experience before joining the ICT, denied the allegation. “It is not true,” he told journalists. “Even if I wanted to [arrange bail], it is not possible for any single prosecutor. Everything goes through the chief prosecutor… It is team work.” He said his resignation was unrelated. “I was thinking of resigning for a couple of days as I was thinking of going back to academia… So I submitted [the resignation letter] and after a couple of days it has been accepted.”
Talukder also denied that Tajul Islam discussed corruption allegations with him or removed him from the case, and rejected claims that the law minister threatened him with arrest. “You will have to talk to the law minister about this,” he said.
Chief prosecutor Aminul Islam said he was unaware of the matter. “I do not know anything… I did not receive any information,” he said, adding Talukder resigned because he wanted to “go back to university as a lecturer”. Law minister Md Asaduzzaman declined to comment.
The ICT was originally set up to prosecute atrocities during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence but has recently been used to investigate alleged crimes linked to the July 2024 uprising.