Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will have to stand trial in the long-pending Mig-29 scam case as the High Court (HC) Thursday discharged her petition for quashing the charge of shady deals on purchase of the fighter jets, reports UNB.
A two-judge bench of Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice M Ataur Rahman Khan passed the orders vacating an HC order of stay given in 2003 on the trial court proceedings in the case.
The delivery of HC judgment, staggered over two days, cleared the way for the trial court to go ahead with its proceedings.
The court discharged the quashing petitions filed by Hasina and others on grounds that the alleged offences were disclosed in the FIR and the charge sheet.
Barrister Shafique Ahmed, counsel for the ex-PM and Awami League chief, told reporters that they are "very unhappy" with the HC orders.
"Our clients are aggrieved with it and they will move the Appellate Division to overturn the HC orders as we still feel that it is a very fittest case for quashing," he said.
Hasina, who has been detained in a makeshift jail since July 16 in an extortion case, is facing a plethora of corruption charges.
Before arrest, she, however, denied all the charges, alleging that the incumbent government is trying to debar her from politics and future elections through these cases.
The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) filed the case in December 2001 against Hasina, former army chief Lt Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, former air chief Air Marshal Jamal Uddin Ahmed, former Defence Secretary Syed Yusuf Hossain, Air Commodore (retd) Mirza Akhtar Maroof, Defence Ministry Joint Secretary (retd) Mohammad Hossain Serniabat and businessman Noor Ali.
Hasina to stand trial in warplane scam case
FE Team | Published: September 07, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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