Former judge Fazlul Haque gets permission to challenge corruption charges

The Supreme Court will allow former caretaker government adviser and judge Fazlul Haque to challenge the High Court decision to scrap his petition to dismiss corruption charges against him.

A three-member appellate bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on Monday granted Haque the right to appeal, technically known as the leave to appeal.

Work on the case has been stayed in the meantime, said Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.

The initial petition to dismiss the charges of acquiring wealth beyond known sources of income and concealing asset information was scrapped by the High Court on Mar 15.

Haque then moved the Appellate Division over the matter.

The ACC accused the former Supreme Court judge of hiding information on Tk 9.7 million in wealth in 2008, during the state of emergency.

In 2010, the High Court stayed proceedings in the case, but the stay was later lifted by the Appellate Division.

Haque was indicted last year. He then petitioned the High Court to dismiss the case.

"The court said it was the trial court's job to decide whether he had acquired wealth through illegal means," Khurshid Alam Khan told the media after the Mar 15 hearing.