High Court withdraws stay on Gatco graft case against Khaleda Zia, orders her to surrender in court

The High Court has lifted the stay order on the Gatco graft case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

It has ordered her to surrender before the trial court within two months after receiving the verdict.

The bench of Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Abdur Rob gave the orders on Wednesday.

The Gatco case was filed in 2007 against 13 including Khaleda and her youngest son late Arafat Rahman Coco.

It said the state incurred a loss of Tk 145.63 million by awarding Gatco the container handling work at the Dhaka Inland Container Depot (ICD) and the Chittagong port.

Later, the High Court had put a stay on the case following petitions by the former prime minister challenging the legality of the case.

Following the latest development there were no more hurdles to try the case in the court, said lawyers.

During the military-backed caretaker government’s regime, three graft cases were filed against former prime minister Khaleda. They are related to Gatco, Niko and Barapukuria coalmine.

Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) had recently moved to revive the cases, which were in abeyance for a long time following court orders.

On Jun 18, the High Court scrapped Khaleda Zia’s petitions challenging the Niko case.

It accuses her of causing a loss to the tune of Tk 137 billion to the state exchequer by awarding gas exploration work to Canadian company Niko Resources.

The BNP chief had been ordered to surrender before a trial court in the case.

The Gatco corruption case was filed on Sept 2, 2007 against Khaleda, her youngest son late Arafat Rahman Coco and 11 others.

The BNP chief and Coco were arrested the next day from their cantonment home. The case was included under the Emergency Rule Act on Sept 18 the same year.

On Sept 27, 2007, Khaleda and Coco filed two petitions with the High Court, challenging the legality of including the case under the Emergency Rule Act and seeking a stay order on the trial's proceedings.

Three days later, the High Court stayed the proceedings and issued a rule asking why the case's inclusion under the Act would not be declared illegal. The Appellate Division later scrapped the stay order.

In 2008, Khaleda filed another petition challenging the legality of the case filed under the ACC Act, following which the High Court once again stayed the case's proceedings.

After the ACC’s recent initiative to revive the case, the High Court resumed hearing on Apr 19 and concluded it on Jun 17, but kept its verdict pending.