High Court cancels bails to GK Shamim

Two separate High Court Division benches in suo motu order on Sunday cancelled bails granted to expelled detained Juba League leader SM Golam Kibria, also known as GK Shamim, in arms and narcotic cases.

Earlier, the chief justice and the other judges of the Appellate Division at a meeting scrutinised the records of the arms and the narcotic cases against GK Shamim.

The move followed Sunday’s newspaper reports about the bails granted to GK Shamim in secrecy and the government told reporters that it was not aware that he had been granted bails.

A bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman cancelled its order granting six months’ interim bail to GK Shamim on February 6 in the arm case for breaching the conditions of keeping licensed pistol for which the law prescribes six months’ jail.

Court officials told New Age that though Justice Asaduzzaman was on leave on Sunday as he was suffering from pneumonia came to the court only to

suo moto hear the GK Shamim matter after posting it in the day’s supplementary cause-list.

The bench cancelled the bail on the ground that GK Shamim was granted bail ‘because of confusion over his name’ in the cause-list where he was identified as SM Golam Kibria.

The court also said that GK Shamim was granted bail without hearing the prosecution as required under Section 32 (C) of the Special Powers Act.

The court said that it had never granted bails to any terrorist and extremist.

GK Shamim’s lawyer Momotaj Uddin Ahemd Mehedi submitted at the suo moto hearing that GK Shamim was granted bail after scrutiny of the case document and the Arms Act.

He submitted that deputy attorney general Fazlur Rahman Khan was not present at the bail hearing.

But DAG Fazlur Rahman claimed that he was present in court but he did not understand the cause-list in which GK Shamim was identified as SM Golam Kibria.

Another bench of Justice Md Rezaul Haque and Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty cancelled GK Shamim’s bail for one year granted on February 4 in narcotic case against him.

The bench cancelled the bail order on the ground that GK Shamim name was listed in the cause-list as SM Golam Kibria on February 4.

And deputy attorney general Jannatul Ferdous told New Age that Shamim’s lawyer Shawkat Osman did not turn up at Sunday’s suo moto hearing.

On September 20, 2019 the Rapid Action Battalion arrested Shamim, also the owner of construction firm GK Builders at his Niketan office on charges of extortion and tender manipulation and seized a licensed pistol, ammunition, five bottles of wines, Tk 2 crore in cash and fixed deposit receipt for about Tk 165 crore.

And at least four cases were filed with Gulshan police station against GK Shamim under Arms Act, Narcotics Control Act, Money Laundering Prevention Act and illegal wealth possession.

And another case was against GK Shamim’s seven body guards under the Arms Act.

The criminal investigation department launched investigations into money laundering charges against GK Shamim and Juba League Dhaka south unit organising secretary Khaled Mahmud Bhuiyan for their involvement with the management of illegal casinos.

On September 22, 2019, the National Board of Revenue asked all the banks to freeze the accounts of GK Shamim. (Source: New Age)