The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The Supreme Court reopens today after a long 42-day annual vacation, with both its divisions poised to take up hot tasks of dealing with top politicians’ graft cases.

Among other applications on the list for the opening day, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court will hear a pending bail petition of former prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, now abroad on parole for medical treatment of her eyes and ears, in an extortion case filed by a businessman.

On October 6, vacation SC chamber court, following a move, set today for hearing Hasina’s plea in the regular bench of the Appellate Division for staying operation of the September 29 High Court order denying her bail.

The denial of bail stalled the legal process of her regular release in the wake of some latest developments in the troubled political arena towards the direction of next elections.

Hasina filed the stay petition as she prefers leave to appeal against the HC order in this extortion case, filed by businessman Noor Ali, an AL nomination-seeker for the previously scheduled January 22, 2007 general election that had been stalled following the 1/11 changeover.

Ali, managing director of Unique Group, sued the AL chief in the wake of the turmoil in the political arena over the election issues.

On July 30 last year, Hasina was shown arrested in the Tk 5-crore extortion case filed on June 13 over a decade-old power-plant deal.

The complainant accused the ex-PM and her cousin and former Awami League MP Sheikh Helal and his wife Rupa Chowdhury, now absconding, of taking Tk 5 crore in bribes for allowing his company to set up the power plant.

Meanwhile, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan, a counsel for BNP chairperson and ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, now freed on bail in all the four corruption cases against her, told UNB that he planned to file petitions Sunday with the High Court either for quashing the Barapukuria Coalmine graft case or challenging the validity of taking cognizance of the case through accepting the charge-sheet submitted to the trial court by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigation officer.

On February 26, the ACC filed the case with Shahbagh police station in the capital on charge of taking kickbacks amounting to about Tk 159 crore in awarding the Barapukuria coalmine deal to the highest bidder instead of the lowest.

On October 5, the principal accused, Khaleda Zia, and 10 powerful ministers of her cabinet and five others were charge-sheeted in the Barapukuria Coalmine graft case.

In the charge sheet, the anti-graft watchdog body accused the top politicians and bureaucrats of misappropriating about Tk 159 crore and thereby inflicting loss to the national exchequer by awarding the contract of production, management and maintenance of the Barapukuria coalmine to the highest bidder instead of the lowest.

Former Finance Minister Saifur Rahman, ex-BNP secretary general and LGRD Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Jamaat chief and ex-Industries Minister Motiur Rahman Nizami and its secretary general and ex-Social Welfare Minister Ali Ahsan M Mujaheed are the high-profile ministers charge-sheeted by the ACC.

Meanwhile, with the arrest warrant hanging over his head, Mujaheed, who was denied bail on October 8 by the vacation SC chamber judge, may not seek bail Sunday on surrender to the High Court, his one counsel said.

He told UNB that they want to “wait until the results of the planned quashing or writ petition” of the BNP chairperson in the coalmine graft case.