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Download PDF The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday stayed a recent High Court (HC) order for granting bail to detained former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a graft case regarding awarding Gatco a contract.
Following an appeal of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the full SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mohammad Ruhul Amin also stayed the HC decision of staying proceedings of the case against Khaleda and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and 11 others.
Lawyers concerned with the case told reporters that following the SC order now there will be no bar to continuing the proceedings of the Gatco graft case filed by the ACC.
Khaleda and Koko filed separate writ petitions on September 27, challenging the initiation and continuation of the case. The HC granted bail to Khaleda and stayed the proceedings of the case on Sunday.
The SC also stayed five other HC orders following ACC’s appeal against Monday’s HC decision that stayed the proceedings of the graft cases against BNP leaders Tarique Rahman, Moudud Ahmed and Nazmul Huda and his wife, Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu and businessman Nurul Islam Babul. The ACC filed the case against these persons for amassing wealth beyond their known sources of income.
All seven accused had also challenged the legality of bringing the graft cases against them under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).
The ACC moved in the SC chamber judge’s court on Tuesday seeking stay on the HC decisions. But Chamber Judge Hassan Ameen fixed today for hearing all matters in the regular full bench of the Appellate Division.
An ACC deputy director filed the case against Khaleda and Koko on September 2 on charges of corruption in awarding Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Co Ltd (Gatco) the contract for container management at inland container depots in Dhaka and Chittagong Port.
The complainant alleged that the selection meant a loss of over Tk 1,000 crore to the government exchequer.
Tarique, also BNP senior joint secretary general, stands accused of accumulating wealth worth over Tk 4.82 crore through illegal means and concealing information of properties worth over Tk 4.23 crore.
On September 26, ACC Deputy Director Jahirul Huda filed the case against Tarique, his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and mother-in-law Iqbalmand Banu for withholding wealth information.
Zubaida and her mother were charged with aiding and abetting Tarique in attempts to show that his was legal income.
ACC Deputy Assistant Director Shariful Haque Siddiqui filed the case against former law minister Moudud Ahmed on September 16 for not declaring wealth worth Tk 4.40 crore. Moudud has assets worth Tk 7.38 crore which is disproportionate to his sources of income.
ACC Assistant Director Talebur Rahman sued former communications minister Nazmul Huda and his wife Sigma Huda on July 11 for discrepancies between their actual wealth and the statements they had submitted to the anti-graft body.
The two are also accused of concealing information of wealth worth over Tk 2.19 crore.
The ACC filed the case against Dulu and his wife with Adabar Police Station on April 19 for concealing Tk 3,06,55,246 in their wealth statements.
ACC Deputy Director Sharmin Ferdous filed a case with Ramna Police Station on August 19 against daily Jugantor Chairman Nurul Islam Babul, his wife and son for acquiring huge wealth illegally and concealing information of property worth Tk 4.40 crore in their wealth statements submitted to the ACC.
The government put all graft cases under the EPR. The counsel for the accused argued that the government’s bringing the case under the EPR is illegal as the charges are based on incidents that had taken place before the declaration of the state of emergency. They also alleged that due procedures have not been followed in filing the cases.
Senior counsel for Khaleda barrister Rafique-ul Huq yesterday moved for all the cases in the SC while Additional Attorney General Salahuddin Ahmed stood for the state.
Salahuddin argued that if the EPR only implies incidents that take place during the period of emergency, then it would be meaningless. So, incidents that had occurred before declaring the state of emergency will also have to be brought under the EPR.
The government formulated the EPR after declaring the state of emergency on January 11.
Following yesterday’s SC decision, there is now no bar to continuing the proceedings of the graft cases against Tarique, Moudud, Huda, Dulu and Babul, said the additional attorney general.
ACC Secretary Mukhles Ur Rahman in his instant reaction to the SC ruling also said, “From now on there would be no legal obstacle to continuing the proceedings of the cases.”
Khaleda’s counsel barrister Rafique-ul Huq told reporters, “We are bound to abide by the court order.” He also said his clients are politicians and they should come out through politics. “It is impossible for them to come out from jail through court,” said Rafique.
Meanwhile, Khaleda expressed her deep shock to her lawyer Advocate Ahmed Aazam after hearing the SC decision when Aazam visited her yesterday. Khaleda discussed next legal course of action with her lawyer.
UNB adds: BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain yesterday expressed deep shock at the Supreme Court’s rejection of bail for former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
“After the High Court and the Chamber Judge’s verdict granting bail to Begum Zia, we thought we have got justice,” he told reporters at his Nam apartment.
“We had also expected that we would get justice from the Supreme Court…We don’t understand why she was not granted bail,” Delwar said.
Responding to rebel BNP leader Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan’s call for unity of BNP, Delwar said he is not clear about Bhuiyan’s statement.
Delwar said the BNP standing committee may consider the unity issue with Bhuiyan if he seeks apology for his past mistakes, accepting the leadership of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
He said Awami League also want reforms but they want to do it by keeping their leader Sheikh Hasina. BNP should also carry on its reform by accepting the leadership of Khaleda Zia, he added.
October 5th, 2007 at 4:10 am
What a shocking news that most of the influential people derived income through corruption.
Whom we can call a gentleman.whom can we call an honest person.
Will Bangladesh ever have honest police force, honest Businessmen & honest leaders.
October 7th, 2007 at 1:27 am
Whatever the worlds support, what ever the fair treatment these leaders want.
I can dare say Both Awami Leaders & BNP worked for their own parties but never for the interest for the Country or for the poor people of Bangladesh!