The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court order of stay halting the proceedings of the Barapukuria coalmine graft case against ex-Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia till mid-January.

Anti-Corruption Commission plea for vacating the stay to let the state side go on with the prosecution of the immediate-past premier was dismissed by the apex court.

A 5-judge regular bench of the AD, headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin, passed the order after a full-length hearing on the plea of the anti-corruption watchdog that herded up two former premiers, many ministers and MPs, business tycoons and bureaucrats into jail under a clean-up drive in the current interim period. Passing the order, the court asked the contending parties to get the pending dispute over the case resolved back in the High Court.

On October 16, the High Court stayed for three months the proceedings of the coalmine graft case against Khaleda, who came out from jail on bail in all the four cases filed against her, as also against the aforesaid bigwigs, during the post-1/11 crackdown on the political arena.

Passing the interim order of stay, a High Court division bench also had issued rule upon the ACC to explain why the case against Khaleda "should not be quashed".

The HC orders came after hearing both sides on a quashing petition filed by Khaleda against the coalmine case in which she is the principal accused.

On October 5, the ACC submitted chargesheet in the case against the former Prime Minister, her 10 former cabinet colleagues and five bureaucrats.

The chargesheet was submitted to Dhaka CMM Court for their alleged involvement in misappropriating a hefty amount of money involving the coalmine project.

In the wake of a purge following the January 11, 2007 changeover amid a political crisis over election issues, the ACC filed the case with Shahbagh police station in the capital on February 26 on charge of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state coffer involving the deal.

The charge against them is that the contract of the coalmine project was awarded to the highest bidder instead of the lowest.

Barrister Rafique-ul Huq appeared for Khaleda while advocate Abdul Aziz Khan for the ACC.