Tajul sought Sultan's removal six weeks before graft allegations surfaced

Former Chief Prosecutor of International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Mohammad Tajul Islam had written to the law adviser six weeks ago recommending the removal of prosecutor BM Sultan Mahmud on multiple charges, including leaking classified case information to defence teams, assaulting a security guard, and domestic violence against his wife.

Tajul Islam confirmed that he sent the letter to former interim government Law Adviser Asif Nazrul on January 11 seeking Sultan Mahmud's dismissal. A copy of the letter was obtained from the Law Ministry by a daily.

The letter's existence came to light after Sultan Mahmud publicly accused Tajul Islam on social media on Monday of accepting financial benefits in exchange for turning former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun into a state witness. 

The accusations were made on the same day the new government replaced Tajul Islam with Md Aminul Islam as Chief Prosecutor.

In his January letter, Tajul Islam alleged that Sultan Mahmud had been supplying highly confidential tribunal information to various parties without authorization from the Chief Prosecutor's office. 

He described the unauthorized sharing of sensitive case details as an illegal act and a serious security threat to ongoing investigations and pending trials.

The letter also detailed an incident in which Sultan Mahmud allegedly verbally abused security guard Md Main Uddin over a minor dispute near the lift of the High Court Annex Building. 

Tajul alleged that Sultan then forcibly took the guard to the Bar Association office with the help of his gunman and severely beat him, causing multiple injuries and threatening to shoot him. Tajul stated that such conduct had severely damaged the image of the tribunal and the prosecution team.

The former Chief Prosecutor further alleged that Sultan Mahmud routinely ordered his gunman to threaten people with gunfire over trivial matters, prompting four gunmen to voluntarily refuse to serve under him, forcing immediate replacements each time.

The removal request also included allegations of physical, mental, and social abuse against Sultan Mahmud's wife, noting that she had filed a formal complaint. A handwritten letter from the wife addressed to the Chief Prosecutor was attached to the correspondence along with the security guard's complaint.

Tajul also accused Sultan Mahmud of summoning case witnesses and victims to his residence and providing misleading advice, false information, and provocation in an attempt to disrupt ongoing judicial proceedings. He wrote that Sultan Mahmud regularly displayed disobedience to authority, negligence in duties, and disregard for assigned responsibilities.

Responding to the allegations, Sultan Mahmud told the media that the charges were part of a deep-rooted conspiracy. "They feared I would expose their corruption, so they conspired against me. They had prepared all of this in advance to use against me at the right time. If I had done anything wrong, they would have issued me a show-cause notice, but they never did," he said.

Tajul Islam was appointed Chief Prosecutor after the International Crimes Tribunal was reconstituted following the August 5 student-led uprising in 2024. 

Sultan Mahmud was appointed to the 16-member prosecution team with the status of Deputy Attorney General. The government replaced Tajul Islam through a gazette notification on Monday.