HC extends stay on Khaleda case for six months

The High Court yesterday extended its stay by six months on the proceedings of Barapukuria coalmine corruption case against BNP chief Khaleda Zia.

The bench of Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Zafar Ahmed passed the order following a plea moved by Khaleda's lawyers AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Badruddoza Badal.

The status of the case has not been changed although it was filed illegally, the lawyers told the court.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on February 26, 2008 accusing Khaleda and others of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operating Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company through abuse of power.

Later, the HC stayed the case proceedings for several times and issued a rule on the government and the ACC to explain why the case against Khaleda should not be scrapped.

The last time the court extended the order for six months was on September 2, 2014.

The court was set to deliver the verdict on Khaleda's petition, which challenged the legality of the case, for three times -- March 10, 15 and April 5.

On April 5, another bench of Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan sent the petitions to the chief justice for a decision as Khaleda's counsels did not co-operate with this bench.

On Monday, the chief justice forwarded the petition to the HC bench of Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Jafar Ahmed.