Brac Bank Pays Jahalam Tk5 Lakh in Compensation

Brac Bank authorities have paid Tk5 lakh out of Tk15 lakh as compensation ordered by the High Court to Jahalam, who suffered in jail for three years instead of the real accused in several corruption cases.

The authorities of the bank handed over a cheque of Tk5 lakh to Jahalam in compliance with an order the chamber court of the Supreme Court issued yesterday, lawyer of the bank Asaduzzaman told the media Thursday (1 September).

Earlier on Wednesday, the chamber judge Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed an order asking the private bank authorities to pay Jahalam Tk5 lakh of the total Tk15 lakh compensation within seven days.

A resident of Tangail, Jahalam had been in jail since February 2016 in 33 cases in place of the real accused, Abu Salek, on charges of embezzling Tk18 crore from Sonali Bank.

Jahalam was freed from jail on February 4, 2019, after the High Court acquitted him in 26 cases in which charges had been pressed.

On July 11, 2019, the ACC submitted its report to the High Court.

The report revealed that a mistake by the investigation officers of the anti-graft watchdog resulted in the wrongful conviction of Jahalam.