Hasina, Rehana, Selim charged with extortion

FE Team | Published: July 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The police Tuesday submitted a charge sheet to the CMM Court against Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and her cousin and former minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in an extortion case, report UNB/bdnews24.com.
Managing Director of East Coast Trading Pvt. Ltd Azam J Chowdhury filed the extortion case of Tk 29.9 million (2.99 crore) with Gulshan police station on June 13 against Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Selim.
According to the allegations made in the case, East Coast Trading Pvt had got a work order in 2000 to set up Siddhirganj Power Plant, but people of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pressed the company for money and threatened to stop the work if it failed to pay.
However, the matter was settled at Tk 29.9 million after negotiations, Azam Chowdhury alleged in his case statement.
Sheikh Hasina was arrested on July 16 in the case and detained in a sub-jail.
Azam filed the case against Hasina and Selim, but Rehana was implicated in it later by the investigating officer of the case.
Metropolitan magistrate Shamsul Alam accepted the charge sheet and set the next date for hearing the case for Aug 15.
The home ministry on July 16 brought the case under emergency powers rules, which means that lawyers cannot seek bail for the accused from the trial court.
In line with the emergency rules, the court has to complete the trial of the case in 45 days from the day charges are framed against the accused.
Security forces arrested the former prime minister at her Sudha Sadan home on July 16 and a Dhaka court sent her to jail the same day.
Selim, also Awami League presidium member, arrested at his Banani home on May 29, is also in jail.
Rehana lives in London.
Rehana told bdnews24.com by phone from London that the case and formal charges were designed to "harass" them.
In instant reaction, Hasina's lawyer Kamrul Islam told bdnews24.com that the charges were pressed in a hurry.
"It all shows that the emergency government is no different from the past partisan government," he said.
"Everything was designed to stop us appealing to the High Court for quashment of the case."
The 59-year-old former prime minister who has been running up against a rash of cases was virtually besieged at home before she was arrested.
The CMM's Court on June 14 asked police and the immigration to stop Hasina going abroad for the sake of investigation into two extortion cases against her.
She was scheduled to fly to the US on June 15 to see her relatives.
Hasina was charged with murder on April 11 while she was in the United States. On April 22, a Dhaka court issued an order to arrest Hasina in a murder case filed by a Jamaat-e-Islami leader.
The murder case involves the deaths of four protesters belonging to BNP ally Jamaat-e-Islami in an Oct 28 political riot in Dhaka in 2006.
Meanwhile another report adds, Hasina will seek more time to submit her wealth statement to the Anti-corruption Commission, her lawyer said Tuesday.
The wealth statement has been prepared for Hasina to sign, income tax lawyer Khondoker Muniruzzaman said, after visiting the detained former prime minister in the special jail in the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
Muniruzzaman said Hasina was handed a letter seeking an extension of the deadline by seven days to turn in the statement to the graft watchdog.
The lawyer said Hasina would send the letter to the ACC through jail authorities after signing it.
Police set up a temporary box on the Jatiya Sangsad premises to receive applications from those wishing to visit Hasina in jail. The box was open for two hours from midday.
The former prime minister was arrested on July 16 and is being detained in the special jail.
Meanwhile, AL acting president Zillur Rahman Tuesday rejected the charge-sheet of the extortion case filed against party chief Sheikh Hasina, saying that the charge-sheet did not mention anywhere that she has received the money.
Talking to journalists at his Gulshan residence in the city, the AL leader also questioned the inclusion of Sheikh Rehana's name in the charge-sheet although her name was on the FIR.
Even Rehana who lives in London was not present in the country at the time of alleged extortion.
"We are not scared of charge-sheet, we are apprehensive of getting justice", he said.
"The government's intention is not good. We want proper justice as we are in legal battle", he added.