Court order on charge framing Aug 12

A Dhaka court will pass its order on August 12 on whether to frame charges in the MiG-29 warplane purchase graft case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and six others.
Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder of the Special Judge's Court, Dhaka Division, fixed the date on completion of hearing on charge framing in the case yesterday.
During the hearing, defence counsels said the case was filed with ill motive and that their clients were not involved in the alleged losses caused to the state for purchase of the fighter planes. So, they should be relieved of any charges against them.
Pressing for framing charges against the accused in the case, prosecution lawyers said they have adequate evidence to prove the allegations against the accused.
After hearing arguments of both the sides, the court, located on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises, set August 12 for its order.
The other accused in the case include former army chief Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, former air force chief Jamaluddin Ahmed, former defence secretary Syed Yusuf Hossain, Air Commodore (retd) Mirza Akhter Maruf, former joint secretary Mohammad Hossain Serniabat and Unique Group Managing Director Nur Ali.
The now defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (Bac) filed the case against Hasina and four others with Tejgaon Police Station on December 11, 2001, accusing them of causing a loss of Tk 700 crore to the state exchequer by purchasing eight MiG-29 fighters while Hasina was prime minister.
Brig Gen (retd) Iftekhar-Ul-Bashar and former deputy secretary Hasan Mahmood Delwar were later dropped from the list of accused and Mustafizur Rahman, Akhter Maruf, Serniabat and Nur Ali were included in it.