DHAKA:  The High Court on Thursday extended its stay order on the proceedings of Barapukuria Coalmine graft case filed against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and others by six months.

The bench comprising Justice M Nuruzzaman and Justice Jafar Ahmed passed the order in the afternoon in response to plea filed by Khaleda’s lawyer Mahbub Uddin Khokon.

After the HC order, Khokon told reporters that the status of the case has not been changed. The case was filed without following legal procedures. The court extended the stay order by six months.  But the court will hear the rule.

On Tuesday, Chief Justice SK Sinha assigned the bench to deal with Niko, Gatco and Barapukura coalmine graft cases.

The verdict on rule hearing in the Barapukura coalmine graft case was set to be delivered on April 5.

On April 2, Khaleda submitted four petitions to the chief justice through her lawyers, seeking transfer of the cases to another bench.

Later, respective bench sent the cases to the chief justice for a decision.

In 2008, during a state of emergency, the anti graft body filed the case accusing ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia and others, including her 10 former cabinet colleagues.

According to the case statement, the government had lost about Tk 1.59 billion in the Barapukuria Coalmine deal awarded to the 2nd highest bidder CMC instead of the lowest one.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia filed a writ petition with the HC challenging the validity of filing of the case.

Later, the court stayed the case proceedings and issued a rule on the government and Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to explain why the case should not be dropped.

BDST: 1937 HRS, APR 09, 2015
RS/RR