Stay sought on HC trial time limit

An appeal was filed with the Supreme Court yesterday challenging a High Court order that asked a trial court to finish the trial proceedings of 24-year-old radar purchase scam case filed against Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad and three others by March 31.

Seeking a stay on the HC order, former air chief Sultan Mahmud, also an accused in the case, submitted the leave-to-appeal petition to the Appellate Division of the SC through his lawyer Syed Mahbubur Rahman, claiming that the HC passed the order without hearing his arguments.

The SC chamber judge may hear the appeal today, Anti Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star. 

Following an ACC petition, the HC on November 24 directed the trial court to finish the trial proceedings by March 31.

Earlier, the lower court had recorded statements of 12 witnesses.

It can record statements of the case's remaining 26 prosecution witnesses if they are produced within this period, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan said in the order.

The now-defunct Bureau of Anti Corruption filed the case 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, said the case statement.

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. Musa has been absconding since then.