Bangladesh's former president Mohammed Shahabuddin will be investigated over alleged corruption, Law Minister Mohammad Asaduzzaman said on Sunday, two days after Shahabuddin resigned citing poor health. The move comes as Bangladesh prepares for a transition in the presidency, with Parliament Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed taking over as Acting President for up to 90 days until a new president is elected.
Shahabuddin, 76, had two years left in his term when he stepped down on Friday. His resignation comes amid speculation that Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's government was uncomfortable with the largely ceremonial head of state, who was a longtime ally of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Speaking to reporters in Chattogram, Asaduzzaman said, "The government does not want to do injustice against any person. But the allegations of corruption before his assumption of presidency are being scrutinised thoroughly." He said legal action would be taken after the investigation, in line with public demand.
The law minister indicated that Shahabuddin's work as a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission and later as a director of private Islami Bank Bangladesh was part of the scrutiny. Asked whether any overseas travel ban had been imposed on the former president, he said that matter came under the Home Ministry. On whether Shahabuddin could be arrested, Asaduzzaman said political parties might raise such demands and their legal basis would be examined.
Under the Constitution, Ahmed will serve as Acting President for 90 days, during which a new president must be elected. Ahmed, who had been abroad for medical treatment, returned home early to take charge. Officials said Shahabuddin left Bangabhaban, the president's official residence, on Sunday and moved to his private residence in Gulshan in the capital, although rules allowed him to stay at the palace for 30 days after resigning.
In his resignation letter to the speaker, Shahabuddin said he was suffering from heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and kidney complications, and had recently been diagnosed with Autonomic Neuropathy. "Because of the prevalence of these diseases, I am physically and mentally incapable of discharging the responsibilities of such an important constitutional post of president," he wrote.
Shahabuddin was elected president by the previous parliament on February 13, 2023. A veteran of the 1971 Liberation War and a former lower judiciary judge, he was the only person still in his constitutional post after the violent student-led protests of July-August 2024 toppled Hasina's Awami League government. Hasina fled to India and has been living there since August 5, 2024.
His departure came days after Hasina announced that she was preparing to return to Bangladesh by December despite a pending death sentence, triggering political uproar. Media reports had claimed that Shahabuddin recently spoke to the deposed premier over the phone, upsetting the top leadership of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party. In an interview with The Daily Star on Thursday, Shahabuddin rejected those reports as "baseless".
Although the presidency is largely ceremonial, with executive power resting with the prime minister, Shahabuddin's office became more important after the 2024 upheaval. The Muhammad Yunus-led interim regime had mounted pressure on him to resign. Two months before the February 12 elections that ended Yunus' 18-month rule, Shahabuddin told the media he was "humiliated" by the interim government, which had removed his portraits from Bangladeshi embassies abroad. At the time, he said he had "100 per cent support" from the BNP and that the army chief, along with the navy and air force chiefs, stood by him. In a December 2025 interview, he said he wanted to resign after carrying out his constitutional duty of holding the February elections.
With Shahabuddin now out of office, Bangladesh has moved to an interim arrangement while the government examines corruption allegations linked to his pre-presidential roles and prepares to elect a new president within the constitutional deadline.
With PTI Inputs
- Ends
Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Jul 26, 2026 21:10 IST
