Bail forgeries rife across country 

Recently two accused, who were languishing since long in connection with Yaba tablet related cases, came out from jail through bail forgery.

According to the sources, a forged bail order�"bearing the faked signatures of two High Court judges�"led to secure the release of two accused individuals---Ahmed Noor and Md Russel-- from prison in a Yaba tablet-related case. Upon submitting this order to the jail authorities, the two accused were released.

When the matter was brought to the attention of the concerned court, a High Court bench comprising Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal and Justice Md. Khasruzzaman had on May 30 directed the Supreme Court Registrar General to investigate the incident.

*    Courts’ officials, lawyers are involved
*    Organised rings and syndicates behind bail fraud incidents
*    Most of the forgery cases undetected 

The investigation identified nine officials and employees of the High Court's Criminal Miscellaneous Section as being involved in the creation of the forged bail order. A case was filed regarding the incident, listing "unknown persons" as the accused.

Though the dishonest officials and employees of the High Court's Criminal Miscellaneous Section involved in the bail forgery were identified, it was not possible to identify the lawyers concerned, their assistants, or the case facilitators (deponents).

In another forgery incident, Sylhet Divisional Special Judge's Court had on July 30 rejected the bail plea of lawyer Humayun Kabir and sent him back to jail in a case involving the securing of bail through a proxy defendant in Sylhet.

According to court sources, a fraud case was pending against expatriate Md Rafiq Miah�"a resident of Dashhal village in Osmani Nagar�"at the Sylhet Divisional Special Judge's Court. While residing in London, Rafiq arranged for a man named Amin Uddin�"from Dighalbak village in Beanibazar�"to appear in court as a proxy.

With the assistance of lawyer Humayun Kabir, Amin surrendered to the court in Rafiq's place on August 16, 2023. After being sent to jail, he was granted bail on September 5 following a period of detention. Subsequently, lawyer Humayun Kabir and his assistant lawyer acted as guarantors, submitted the bail bond, and secured his release.

On September 9 of that year, the plaintiff's lawyer, Shahiduzzaman Chowdhury, filed a petition with the court to verify the identity of the accused. The Department of Immigration and Passports subsequently informed the court that there was no record of Rafiq Miah entering or leaving the country during that period. Following the exposure of the fraud, Ali Ahmad�"the Sylhet Divisional Special Judge�"filed a case as the plaintiff on July 20 against expatriate Rafiq Miah, proxy Amin Uddin, lawyer Humayun Kabir, and the guarantor assistant lawyer, Md. Zakaria.

In another forgery incident, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police recently filed a charge sheet against four individuals�"including a lawyer and a clerk�"in a case involving bail fraud and deception of the court.

The accused named in the charge sheet are lawyer Saifur Rahman (alias Masum Matubbar), case facilitator Abdul Hekim, Supreme Court clerk Md. Saidur Rahman (alias Chhabdul Sheikh) and Sirajul Islam. Among them, Saifur Rahman and Saidur Rahman are currently in jail, while Hekim and Sirajul remain at large.

Sub-Inspector Nizamuddin Fakir, the General Registration Officer (GRO) for Shahbag Police Station at the court, confirmed the matter on January 29 this year.

He stated that the investigating officer, CID Police Inspector Md. Nuruzzaman, submitted the charge sheet to the court. Two of the accused are absconding, and the court has issued arrest warrants against them.

The charge sheet alleges that lawyer Saifur Rahman, Abdul Hekim, and Saidur Rahman�"acting in collusion and with the knowledge and advice of the fugitive Sirajul Islam�"concealed the facts of a gold smuggling case. They suppressed details regarding the seizure of 9 kg 274 grams of gold while seeking bail for Sirajul Islam, who was accused under Section 25-B of the Special Powers Act, 1974, in a case filed at the Airport Police Station.

Furthermore, they fraudulently presented documents to the court�"including the FIR and certified copies�"that misrepresented the facts regarding the smuggling of the gold, as well as 35,300 Indian rupees and Tk 65,400.

According to case records, a case was filed at the capital's Airport Police Station regarding the smuggling of 9 kg 274 grams of gold. Sirajul Islam, the only accused arrested in the case, had been detained in prison for a long period. To secure his release, case facilitator Abdul Hekim contacted Supreme Court clerk Md. Saidur Rahman. Subsequently, lawyer Saifur Rahman secured bail for the accused, Sirajul, in a money laundering case from the High Court through collusion, while concealing the existence of a separate gold smuggling case. Following this incident, Md. Siddiqur Rahman, Assistant Registrar (Criminal Appeal Section) of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, filed a case as the plaintiff at Shahbag Police Station on August 27, 2019.