SC full bench to hear another accused's plea

The full bench of Supreme Court will now hear former air chief Sultan Mahmud's appeal against the High Court order on radar purchase scam case filed 24 years ago against Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad and three others.

Chamber judge, who is in charge of dealing with emergency judicial matters when the higher court goes into vacation, sent the matters to the full bench, passing no fresh order.

Justice Md Nizamul Huq, chamber judge of the Appellate Division, also sent the appeal to the full bench for its hearing on January 2 next year.

Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the HC order will remain in force until the SC passes any order on the appeal.

Mahmud, also an accused in the case, filed the appeal challenging the HC order that asked the lower court concerned to finish the trial proceedings by March 31 next year.

On December 19, Mahmud submitted the leave-to-appeal petition to the Appellate Division through his lawyer Syed Mahbubur Rahman, claiming that the HC passed the order without hearing his arguments.

Following an ACC petition, the HC on November 24 also said the trial court can record statements of the case's remaining 26 prosecution witnesses if they are produced within this period. Earlier, the lower court had recorded statements of 12 witnesses.

The now-defunct Bureau of Anti Corruption filed the case against Ershad and three others with cantonment police on May 4, 1992. Ershad in collusion with others allegedly caused a loss of Tk 64.04 crore to the state exchequer by purchasing radars from the US, instead of France, for the air force while he was in power.

On August 12, 1995, the trial court framed charges against Ershad, former air chiefs Sultan Mahmud and Mamtazuddin Ahmed, and United Traders Ltd director AKM Musa, who has been absconding since then.