prosecutor at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) asked the family of a detained former Awami League politician for one crore taka (approximately $82,000) in exchange for securing his release on bail, according to multiple audio recordings of WhatsApp conversations obtained by Netra News and Prothom Alo.
The recordings capture conversations between members of the family of ABM Fazle Karim Chowdhury and Saimum Reza Talukder — Chowdhury is the former Awami League MP for Chittagong-6 and Talukder is one of the prosecutors assigned to the politician’s case.
Netra News and Prothom Alo verified the recordings — matching them with call logs and the prosecutor’s voice.
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, Talukder told a family member recalling a prior conversation: “If ultimately we could get him out — I mentioned then a fairly large amount. I mentioned one crore.”
He also requested an upfront payment of 10 lakh taka (about $8,200), “If around ten lakh 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 Talukder from the case but kept him employed at the tribunal. As Islam was replaced following the election, Talukder told the 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 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, 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, Talukder denied the allegation against him. “It is not true,” he told Netra News and Prothom Alo. “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 Islam had taken him off the Chowdhury case, “No, I can’t remember that.”
He also denied that the 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.”
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, Talukdar resigned because he wanted to “go back to university as a lecturer.”
When contacted, Md. Asaduzzaman, the law minister, refused to offer any comment.
Chowdhury, a five-term Awami League member of parliament for the Chittagong-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 February 16th 2025. He was at the time shown arrested on allegations of crimes against humanity linked to killings during student protests in Chittagong city on July 16th 2024, when three people were killed. The investigation has since expanded to include deaths that took place two days later, also in the city.
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.
Suggestions of payments to investigators
Chowdhury’s family claims 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 Chowdhury and assist in obtaining a copy of the investigation report.
Those early conversations were not recorded.
In later calls, the family says, 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 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 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 December 11th 2025, the family submitted a written application to the tribunal registry seeking urgent medical treatment for Chowdhury. About ten minutes after the application was submitted, 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 Talukder again raised the issue of money.
The family asked how much he expected.
The family understood this to mean one crore taka, with instalments of 10 or 20 lakh — an interpretation later confirmed in subsequent conversations.
This was the first time the family had a recording of Talukder stating how much money he expected.
During the same conversation, Talukder also discussed internal prosecution meetings regarding 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.”
Informing the chief prosecutor
On December 18th 2025, a week later, members of 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 December 11th conversation but did not provide him with a copy.
Following the meeting, Talukder was removed from 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 December 29th, Talukder phoned the family again, apparently unaware that they had complained about him.
He also warned the family that they should be cautious about the security of their phones.
According to the family, 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.
Change in the government
Following the general election on February 12th 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 February 24th, the day after the new chief prosecutor was appointed, 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 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 conversation then returned to the issue of payment.
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.”
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 could be given as an advance, that would be very good — in cash.”
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 February 26th, Talukder called again, committed to lobbying for Chowdhury.
As soon as the call ended, Talukder phoned again, raising again the question of payment.
The family member then asked how they should pay the money, and Talukder suggested arranging the transfer during a casual meeting at the High Court.
Law minister informed
Later that same afternoon, a member of Chowdhury’s family sent recordings of several conversations to the new law minister, Md. Asaduzzaman.
In a further recorded conversation with the family, Talukder told them the minister had threatened to have him arrested.
Despite the minister’s warning, Talukder has not been questioned by police.
Talukder resigned from his position as prosecutor on Monday.●