The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina now stands trial for alleged Mig-29 warplane-purchase scam as the Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed all the petitions of the accused for leave to appeal against the revival of the case.

A 7-member full hierarchy of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin, passed the orders, finally clearing the way for resuming the stalled trial proceedings. In its judgment the apex court upheld the High Court verdict that revived the Mig-29 purchase-deal case against the former Prime Minister and six others, including four former top military officials. The grounds for dismissal of the petitions of the accused could not be known immediately, court sources said.The long-unresolved case is now pending with Dhaka Divisional Special Judge's Court, which has set March 25 for appearance of the accused. On September 6 last year, the High Court, upon an interim government petition, discharged Sheikh Hasina's plea for quashing the charge of shady deals on purchase of the fighter jets from Russia, removing the hurdles to continuing the case proceedings.

The HC had discharged the quashing petition on grounds that the alleged offences were disclosed in the FIR and the charge sheet. Eight Russian-made fighter planes of the brand were procured for the Bangladesh Air Force when Hasina was Prime Minister (1996-2001). According to the case filed with Tejgaon Police Station against Hasina and the others, the purchase of the eight fighter jets during the tenure of the Awami League government caused a loss of Tk 700 crore to the public exchequer.

Former army chief Lt General (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, ex-airforce chief Air Marshal (retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed, retired defence secretary Syed Yusuf Hossain, Air Commodore (retd) Mirza Akhtar Maruf, retired defence joint secretary Mohammad Hossain Serniabat and businessman Noor Ali are the other charge-sheeted accused in the case. Shortly after the BNP-led four-party alliance came to power, the now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed the Mig-29 scam case against Sheikh Hasina and the others in December 2001. After charge-sheet filing, the accused filed petitions with the High Court for quashing the case and the HC issued an order of stay on the trial proceedings until the court rule was resolved. But there had been a long pause as government side ceased from pursuing the lawsuit.