Prosecutor sought Tk 10m for bail in ICT case, recordings show

A prosecutor at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) asked the family of a detained former Awami League politician for 10 million taka (approximately USD 82,000) in exchange for securing his release on bail, according to multiple audio recordings of WhatsApp conversations obtained by Prothom Alo and Netra News.

The recordings capture conversations between members of the family of ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury, former Awami League MP for Chattogram-6, and Saimum Reza Talukder, one of the prosecutors assigned to the politician’s case.

Prothom Alo and Netra News verified the recordings — matching them with call logs and the prosecutor’s voice.

ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury is accused of crimes against humanity in relation to killings during student protests in Chittagong city in July 2024.

In one of the calls, Saimum Reza Talukder told a family member of ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury recalling a prior conversation, “If ultimately we could get him out — I mentioned then a fairly large amount. I mentioned one crore (10 million taka).”

He also requested an upfront payment of 1 million taka (about USD 8,200), “If around ten lakh (1 million) could be given as an advance, that would be very good — in cash.”

After the ICT’s then chief prosecutor, Tajul Islam, was made aware of the allegation, he reassigned Saimum Reza Talukder from the case but kept him employed at the tribunal. As Tajul Islam was replaced following the election, Saimum Reza Talukder told Fazle Karim’s family he would return to the case.

When Bangladesh’s new law minister, Md Asaduzzaman, was given recordings of the conversations, the prosecutor told the family that the minister had threatened him with arrest for soliciting a bribe.

Members of Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s family say they never paid the prosecutor any bribe and never intended to. Instead, they continued speaking with him to collect evidence of corruption.

An academic by profession, Saimum Reza Talukder worked as a senior lecturer at Brac University and was a familiar face in Dhaka’s civil society circles. An expert on internet governance and security, he had little trial experience before being appointed to the ICT — as an ICT prosecutor, he had assistant attorney general rank.

When contacted, Saimum Reza Talukder denied the allegation against him. “It is not true,” he told Prothom Alo and Netra News. “Even if I wanted to [arrange bail], it is not possible for any single prosecutor. Everything goes through the chief prosecutor… It is team work.”

He said that his resignation had nothing to do with the corruption allegation, “I was thinking of resigning for a couple of days as I was thinking of going back to academia, my previous profession. […] So I submitted [the resignation letter] and after a couple of days it has been accepted.”

He denied that Tajul Islam, the former chief prosecutor, had talked to him about corruption allegations or that Tajul Islam had taken him off Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s case, “No, I can’t remember that.”

He also denied that the new law minister had subsequently threatened to get the police to arrest him, saying that he had only spoken to the minister about going back to academia, “You will have to talk to the law minister about this.”

When contacted, Md Asaduzzaman, the law minister, refused to offer any comment.

Fazle Karim Chowdhury, a five-term Awami League member of parliament for the Chattogram-6 constituency, which encompasses the Raozan upazila. While in office, he faced numerous accusations of brutally suppressing political opponents in his constituency. After being arrested in September 2024, he was first produced before the ICT on 16 February 2025. He was at the time shown arrested on allegations of crimes against humanity linked to killings during student protests in Chattogram city on 16 July 2024, when three people were killed. The investigation has since expanded to include deaths that took place two days later, also in the city.

Fazle Karim Chowdhury has now been detained by the ICT for more than a year without charge. He has also been shown arrested in ordinary criminal courts in connection with separate penal code offences.

The International Crimes Tribunal was originally established to prosecute atrocities committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence, but in recent years it has also been used to investigate alleged crimes linked to the violent events during the 2024 uprising.

Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s family claims Saimum Reza Talukder first made contact with them in April 2025, about two months after the former MP’s detention. They say the prosecutor told them that, in exchange for money, he could help secure bail for Fazle Karim Chowdhury and assist in obtaining a copy of the investigation report.

Those early conversations were not recorded.

In later calls, the family says, Saimum Reza Talukder also suggested that they should pay money to an ICT investigation officer, claiming that the officer had already received bribes from Muniria Jubo Tabligh, a religious organisation campaigning for Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s prosecution. The investigation officer denied the allegation, “I have no relationship with Muniria.” A spokesperson for Muniria denied the allegation as well, calling it “a conspiracy to taint the ICT.”

Later in 2025, the family began recording their conversations with Saimum Reza Talukder to document what they describe as “repeated attempts to solicit money”. A family member also logged every instance the prosecutor texted or called them or other members of the family. Their records suggest he contacted them 26 times and solicited payments at least 14 times.

On 11 December 2025, the family submitted a written application to the tribunal registry seeking urgent medical treatment for Fazle Karim Chowdhury. About ten minutes after the application was submitted, Saimum Reza Talukder phoned them and, according to the family, said he was already aware of the request. He questioned why they had not contacted him beforehand and suggested that payment would be required to ensure the application succeeded.

That particular call was not recorded.

However, a later conversation the same evening was captured on audio, in which Saimum Reza Talukder again raised the issue of money.

The family asked how much he expected.

“If some arrangement could be made ultimately, then altogether there would be an expectation — from us regarding him — of ‘one’,” he said.

“After that, it could be [paid] in parts — however it may be. Say ten, twenty… from now on, [given] from time to time like that,” he went on to add.

The family understood this to mean 10 million taka, with instalments of one or two million— an interpretation later confirmed in subsequent conversations.

This was the first time the family had a recording of Saimum Reza Talukder stating how much money he expected.

During the same conversation, Saimum Reza Talukder also discussed internal prosecution meetings regarding Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s case and suggested investigators were struggling to find evidence, “Since the police aren’t finding anything, now they want to do this involving some big names. So of course they want to frame him — they want to frame Mr Fazle Karim.”

On 18 December 2025, a week later, members of Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s family met Tajul Islam, who was then the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, to report the alleged solicitation.

“We wanted to make him aware of the corruption transpiring and prosecutorial misconduct, and to request that he take appropriate action to ensure that the investigation and subsequent proceedings are carried out impartially and in accordance with due process and are done fairly,” a family member said.

The family member played Tajul Islam the recording of the 11 December conversation but did not provide him with a copy.

Following the meeting, Saimum Reza Talukder was removed from Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s case, though he remained employed as a prosecutor at the tribunal.

Tajul Islam said he would have taken steps if the recording had been given to him. However, he did confirm receiving the allegation.

“I couldn’t take any action against a prosecutor based on mere allegation unless substantiated by evidence,” he said. “No evidence was forthcoming. I was not the appointing or dismissing authority of the prosecutors either.”

Eleven days later, on 29 December, Saimum Reza Talukder phoned the family again, apparently unaware that they had complained about him.

“The chief prosecutor was saying, ‘I have audio, this and that.’ I was a bit surprised,” he said during the call. “He may have been bluffing though.”

He also warned Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s family that they should be cautious about the security of their phones.

According to the family, Saimum Reza Talukder, who specialises in the law of digital technologies, appeared to believe the conversations had been intercepted through official surveillance rather than recorded by the family themselves. They say that assumption led him to continue discussing potential payments while emphasising the need for device security.

Following the general election on 12 February 2026, the BNP formed the new government.

Nine days later, Tajul Islam — widely seen as close to Jamaat-e-Islami — was removed as chief prosecutor and replaced by Aminul Islam, a lawyer aligned with the BNP.

On 24 February, the day after the new chief prosecutor was appointed, Saimum Reza Talukder again contacted the family.

“I will be coming back onto this case,” he said, adding that prosecutors would soon review the file and that he intended to argue for Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s bail, “What’s happening now is that we will sit again with all the cases. I will explain to the chief prosecutor in my own way.”

“The new chief prosecutor — he is quite reasonable. That’s what I understood from my interaction with him today. So from my side I will put effort so that the case doesn’t get difficult, so that he at least gets bail.”

The conversation then returned to the issue of payment.

If anything like this gets back to the prosecutors, it basically means I’ll be shut out [of the case],” he said. “As you’ve already seen — from the end of December until now I haven’t been involved in the case at all. So if word gets around again — if this kind of talk starts — ultimately I won’t be able to work on the case. Do you understand the situation?”

He then repeated the figure he had mentioned earlier, “If ultimately we could get him out — I mentioned then a fairly large amount. I mentioned one crore (10 million).”

He again suggested an advance payment,

“If they agree — then some part payment could be made now, initially.”

Later in the call he added, “And right now it would be best if some advance could be arranged for me — if around ten lakh (one million) could be given as an advance, that would be very good — in cash.”

Saimum Reza Talukder also suggested that his position at the tribunal could strengthen under the new leadership, “God willing, in a few days my influence in the tribunal will increase further, because the current chief prosecutor is pro-BNP. Let’s see what can be done.”

Two days later on 26 February, Saimum Reza Talukder called again, committed to lobbying for Fazle Karim Chowdhury.

“The main thing is that the current chief prosecutor is a very good person, a reasonable person. What will happen next regarding your case is that Tareq Abdullah, Moinul Karim and Noman, and I, and the chief prosecutor, and Zoha — we will all sit together. If they speak against it, I will speak [in your favour],” he added, referring to other prosecutors by name.

As soon as the call ended, Saimum Reza Talukder phoned again, raising again the question of payment.

“Another thing — I’ll speak a bit frankly. I don’t know whether right now I should actually ask you for some part payment, or whether I should ask for it later all at once. Which would be wiser? Which would be better? Wouldn’t it be better after the work is done?”

The family member then asked how they should pay the money, and Saimum Reza Talukder suggested arranging the transfer during a casual meeting at the High Court.

“Well, when they come to court as they usually do, we can talk briefly then, at some point. At the High Court. Otherwise, suspicion will arise. I hope I’ve explained it.”

Later that same afternoon, a member of Fazle Karim Chowdhury’s family sent recordings of several conversations to the new law minister, Md Asaduzzaman.

In a further recorded conversation with the family, Saimum Reza Talukder told them the minister had threatened to have him arrested.

“Your relative recorded that audio and gave it to the law minister.”

“Can you help me a little?” he then asked. “The law minister just called me and said he would have the police arrest me.”

Aminul Islam, the current chief prosecutor, denied being aware of the episode, “I do not know anything [...] I did not receive any information.” The chief prosecutor added that the law minister had not told him anything about the matter, and as far as he knew, Saimum Reza Talukdar resigned because he wanted to “go back to university as a lecturer.”

Despite the minister’s warning, Saimum Reza Talukder has not been questioned by police.

Saimum Reza Talukder resigned from his position as prosecutor on Monday.