Coalmine Graft Case: SC clears way for trying Khaleda
The Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for a lower court to continue trying BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case.
A four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed Khaleda's leave to appeal petition, which challenged a High Court verdict giving the go ahead to the trial proceedings.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that there was no legal bar on the lower court following the SC order.
The HC, on September 17 last year, rejected Khaleda's petition challenging the legality of the proceedings against her.
Khaleda later filed the leave to appeal petition, which the SC heard and on May 22 fixed yesterday's date to pass an order on.
ACC filed the case accusing Khaleda and 15 others of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding, through abuse of power, a Chinese company a contract for operating the coalmine.
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