The Bangladesh’s High Court (HC) on
Tuesday fixed September 17 for delivering verdict on a petition of BNP
Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia challenging legality of the trial proceedings
against her in Barapukuria coalmine graft case.
A division bench of the HC
comprising Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Abdur Rob set the date as the
petition was kept waiting for the verdict any day.
Khaleda Zia’s lawyer Barrister
Ragib Chowdhury confirmed it.
The petition was kept waiting for
verdict on August 30 after hearing both the prosecution and defence, said
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) counsel Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan.
ACC filed the case with Shahbagh
Police Station on February 26 in 2008 accusing 16 persons including former
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and 10 ministers of the BNP-Jamaat alliance
four-party government.
They were accused of causing a
loss of Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract of operating
Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company, abusing power.
ACC submitted a charge sheet
before a Dhaka court in the case accusing the 16 people on October 5, 2008.
The
HC on October 16, 2008 stayed the proceeding of the Barapukuria coalmine case
upon a petition and issued a rule upon the concerned authority asking why the
case would not be cancelled. (Source: BSS, September 15, 2015)