SC asks HC to decide on proceedings' legality

The Supreme Court yesterday directed the High Court to decide within six weeks whether the Niko corruption proceedings against former BNP state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain were legal or not.
The apex court came up with the directive after the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a petition against a 2008 HC rule, which asked the ACC and the government to explain why the proceedings against Mosharraf should not be quashed. It also had stayed the proceedings and granted him bail in the case.
Mosharraf, along with former prime minister Khaleda Zia and several others, was sued in 2007 for abusing power to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to the Canadian company, Niko. The ACC had filed the case.
Yesterday, a six-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the chief justice, ordered the HC to dispose of the 2008 rule after hearing the ACC petition.