Bepza case against Hasina quashed

The High Court yesterday quashed all the proceedings of a graft case filed against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during BNP-Jamaat government for appointment of lobbyists for Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (Bepza).
An HC bench of Justice Md Shamsul Huda and Justice Abu Bakar Siddiquee passed the verdict following a petition filed by Hasina for quashing the proceedings against her.
With this HC verdict, Sheikh Hasina has been cleared of 13 cases out of 15 filed against her.
Of the 13 cases, the HC has quashed proceedings of nine cases, two cases have been withdrawn from the trial courts while final reports have been submitted exonerating her in two other cases.
Hasina's lawyer barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh yesterday told The Daily Star that there are two cases against Hasina now, though there is no proceeding of these cases.
These two cases were filed during BNP-led government on charges of illegally entering into the cantonment area to visit severely injured writer Prof Humayun Azad, and corruption in setting up Bangabandhu Smriti Soudha, he said.
Then Bureau of Anti-Corruption (Bac) filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on December 11, 2001 against Hasina on charge of spending Tk 2.1 crore of the national exchequer by appointing lobbyists in the United States for Bepza.
The case was later transferred to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Following a quashment petition filed by Hasina, the HC in 2002 stayed the proceedings of the case and also issued a rule upon the Bac to explain why the proceedings of the case against her should not be quashed.
Advocate Syed Mizanur Rahman argued for ACC.