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Published : 27 Nov 2024, 05:06 PM
A Dhaka court has cleared BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and three others in the Barapukuria Coal Mine corruption case initiated during the state of emergency a decade and a half ago.
The court also indicted the four others accused in the lawsuit and cleared the way for a trial against them.
Judge Md Abu Taher of the Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 delivered the order after a hearing in the case on Wednesday.
Along with Khaleda, former commerce minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain have been acquitted of charges in the suit.
However, the case against Hosaf Group Chairman Moazzam Hossain, former energy secretary Nazrul Islam, and former Petrobangla directors Moinul Ahsan and Md Sirajul Islam Chowdhury will proceed.
During the hearing of the corruption case, Khaleda's lawyer filed an acquittal petition on her behalf. Later, the lawyer filed a bail plea seeking the release of Khaleda and the other accused.
On the other hand, the state sought the suspects to be indicted.
One of Khaleda’s lawyers Masud Ahmed Talukder said, "Khaleda Zia had no involvement in this politically-motivated case."
Reacting to the order, Mosharraf said: "The Awami League government has harassed us with cases in order to achieve its own interests. To stay in power, they initiated false cases one after another alongside enforced disappearances and killings."
On Feb 26, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, started the Barapukuria Coal Mine graft case against Khaleda and 15 others, including members of her cabinet.
Then ACC deputy director Md Shamsul Alam started the case at Dhaka’s Shahbagh Police Station.
According to the case details, the accused caused the state losses of about Tk 1.59 billion by signing a deal with a consortium of the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, or CMC, to operate, manage, and maintain the Barapukuria Coal Mine.
