High Court verdict any day on Khaleda’s pleas seeking to scrap Barapukuria coalmine graft case

The High Court has finished hearing BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s pleas for trashing Barapukuria coalmine graft case against her and will deliver its verdict any day.

The bench of Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Abdur Rob on Sunday set the state to 'Curia advisari vult' (CAV for short) after hearing on a previous rule on the issue.  

The Latin term literally means 'the court wishes to be advised', meaning it reserves the judgment for another day. 

On Aug 23, the bench scrapped two pleas by the former prime minister asking for submission of lower court records and Anti Corruption Commission’s final report. 

The court also set the next hearing for Aug 30. Hearings have been held on the matter for 10 working days. 

ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan told bdnews24.com: “The hearing on the rule has ended. The court has issued a CAV.”

Khaleda’s counsel Raghib Rauf Chowdhury said the verdict could be announced any day. 

Khaleda and 15 others are accused of causing the state a loss of about Tk 1.59 billion by signing a deal with the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) to operate, manage, and maintain the Barapukuria mine.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on Feb 26, 2008 with Shahbagh police and the chargesheet was submitted on Oct 5 of the same year. 

After 11 days, the High Court stayed proceedings for three months and issued a ruling asking why the case should not be scrapped.

It was upheld by the top court, bringing the case to a standstill, while Khaleda secured a permanent bail on Jan 15, 2012.

The final hearing on the High Court rule started after the ACC took initiative to revive the case earlier this year.