Next hearing in Gatco case June 10
Thursday, 5 June 2008
A special court, after an hour-long sitting, Wednesday deferred to June 10 the charge hearing on the GATCO graft case against detained former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her younger son Koko, eight former ministers and several others, reports UNB.
The court passed the order upon defence counsel petitions as they did not get the relevant papers from the prosecution side in connection with the case for browsing.
The court of judge Shahed Noor Uddin resumed at 11:02am after Khaleda Zia was produced before it amid an unprecedented tight security in and around the parliament-building complex.
Earlier, the other detained accused, including six ex-ministers, were produced in the court. They were former LGRD minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, former health minister Khondoker Mosharraf Hossain, former land minister M Shamsul Islam, former agriculture minister MK Anwar, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain and former industries minister Motiur Rahman Nizami of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Arafat Rahman Koko was brought onto the court premises from a hospital prison cell by an ambulance. Later he was pushed in courtroom in a wheelchair along with a stand-by oxygen cylinder beside him followed by a physician.
Of the 24 accused, 17 were produced before the court and the remaining seven are on the run, including former finance minister M Saifur Rahman and former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
On May 13, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) after investigation submitted charge sheet to the court in the GATCO scam case.
The ACC filed the case with the Tejgaon Police Station on September 2 last year against Khaleda and her son and others for graft in awarding Gatco the contract for container handling at depots in Dhaka and Chittagong.
The following day, joint forces arrested Khaleda Zia and her son Koko from their Dhaka Cantonment residence, as a purge had been underway in the interim period.
The accused are charged with causing a loss of over Tk 140 million to the public exchequer by striking the container-handling deal with Gatco despite the firm's "lack of experience and skills".
Misuse of power and collusion among the accused in violating the tender conditions are among the charges brought under the case.
The charges were made under sections 409 and 109 of the penal code, Section 15 of the Emergency Power Rules 2007, and Section 5(2) of the Corruption Prevention Act 1947.
The eight former ministers, who were members of the cabinet purchase committee, were accused of recommending the greenhorn Gatco for the job.
The court passed the order upon defence counsel petitions as they did not get the relevant papers from the prosecution side in connection with the case for browsing.
The court of judge Shahed Noor Uddin resumed at 11:02am after Khaleda Zia was produced before it amid an unprecedented tight security in and around the parliament-building complex.
Earlier, the other detained accused, including six ex-ministers, were produced in the court. They were former LGRD minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, former health minister Khondoker Mosharraf Hossain, former land minister M Shamsul Islam, former agriculture minister MK Anwar, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain and former industries minister Motiur Rahman Nizami of Jamaat-e-Islami.
Arafat Rahman Koko was brought onto the court premises from a hospital prison cell by an ambulance. Later he was pushed in courtroom in a wheelchair along with a stand-by oxygen cylinder beside him followed by a physician.
Of the 24 accused, 17 were produced before the court and the remaining seven are on the run, including former finance minister M Saifur Rahman and former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
On May 13, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) after investigation submitted charge sheet to the court in the GATCO scam case.
The ACC filed the case with the Tejgaon Police Station on September 2 last year against Khaleda and her son and others for graft in awarding Gatco the contract for container handling at depots in Dhaka and Chittagong.
The following day, joint forces arrested Khaleda Zia and her son Koko from their Dhaka Cantonment residence, as a purge had been underway in the interim period.
The accused are charged with causing a loss of over Tk 140 million to the public exchequer by striking the container-handling deal with Gatco despite the firm's "lack of experience and skills".
Misuse of power and collusion among the accused in violating the tender conditions are among the charges brought under the case.
The charges were made under sections 409 and 109 of the penal code, Section 15 of the Emergency Power Rules 2007, and Section 5(2) of the Corruption Prevention Act 1947.
The eight former ministers, who were members of the cabinet purchase committee, were accused of recommending the greenhorn Gatco for the job.