SC rejects ACC plea for vacating HC stay on proceedings
Friday, 11 July 2008
The Supreme Court (SC) Thursday said no to Anti-corruption Commission (ACC)'s prayer for vacating the stay on proceedings of the Niko and the barge-mounted power plant scam cases against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, thereby putting the corruption trials on the backburner, reports UNB.
Passing the orders, a four-judge Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin asked the Attorney General (AG) to file a regular appeal against the HC orders.
Earlier, the apex court heard arguments by both sides over the two of a plethora of high-profile cases instituted under the current purge being conducted by the interim regime.
On July 7, a division bench comprising Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hosain Ahmed, upon separate petitions, stayed for two months the proceedings of the Niko and the barge-mounted power plant graft cases against the former Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) chief, Sheikh Hasina, now abroad for treatment following temporary release from prison.
The HC division bench had also issued separate rules asking the ACC to explain why the two cases "should not be quashed".
Earlier, the HC, during separate hearings on the petitions, had called for the trial-court records for its scrutiny as to whether the cases had been filed by the ACC following due process of law.
Following the HC orders, the proceedings of the cases stalled.
The cases are now lying with the special courts set up at the parliament complex that deals with high-profile corruption cases following the 1/11 change of guards in state power.
The Niko scam case was in a pre-charge-hearing phase while the barge-mounted power plant case was at a much advanced stage of cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses by the defence counsel.
The HC orders came following separate quashing petitions filed by the AL president last month.
Reacting to the apex-court edicts, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, the counsel for Hasina, expressed his satisfaction. He told the news agency that, in the recent past, the apex court had developed a practice of stay over the HC interim stay orders, which tarnished the image of the highest judiciary.
"But, from now on, it appears to me that a wind of change is blowing in the judicial arena," he said.
Barrister Shafique, also president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said the Appellate Division of the SC is trying to restore its past tradition in not interfering with or staying the interim orders passed by the HC.
On September 2 last year, the ACC filed the barge-mounted power plant case with Tejgaon police station against Hasina and several others, amid a crackdown on former ruling politicians in the interim period.
It complained that the ex-PM and other accused through mutual understanding and use of influence had helped a foreign company and its local partners win a deal for setting up a barge-mounted 100MW power plant in Khulna, depriving the lowest bidder.
On December 9 last year, the ACC filed the Niko scam case with the same police station. According to the charge sheet, the accused in collusion with one another awarded gas-extraction work in Chhatak, Kamta and Feni gas fields to Niko Resources Ltd, a Canadian company, "to gain personal financial benefit that caused a loss of Tk 136.30 billion (13,630.50 crore) to the state exchequer".
Passing the orders, a four-judge Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin asked the Attorney General (AG) to file a regular appeal against the HC orders.
Earlier, the apex court heard arguments by both sides over the two of a plethora of high-profile cases instituted under the current purge being conducted by the interim regime.
On July 7, a division bench comprising Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Mashuque Hosain Ahmed, upon separate petitions, stayed for two months the proceedings of the Niko and the barge-mounted power plant graft cases against the former Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) chief, Sheikh Hasina, now abroad for treatment following temporary release from prison.
The HC division bench had also issued separate rules asking the ACC to explain why the two cases "should not be quashed".
Earlier, the HC, during separate hearings on the petitions, had called for the trial-court records for its scrutiny as to whether the cases had been filed by the ACC following due process of law.
Following the HC orders, the proceedings of the cases stalled.
The cases are now lying with the special courts set up at the parliament complex that deals with high-profile corruption cases following the 1/11 change of guards in state power.
The Niko scam case was in a pre-charge-hearing phase while the barge-mounted power plant case was at a much advanced stage of cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses by the defence counsel.
The HC orders came following separate quashing petitions filed by the AL president last month.
Reacting to the apex-court edicts, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, the counsel for Hasina, expressed his satisfaction. He told the news agency that, in the recent past, the apex court had developed a practice of stay over the HC interim stay orders, which tarnished the image of the highest judiciary.
"But, from now on, it appears to me that a wind of change is blowing in the judicial arena," he said.
Barrister Shafique, also president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), said the Appellate Division of the SC is trying to restore its past tradition in not interfering with or staying the interim orders passed by the HC.
On September 2 last year, the ACC filed the barge-mounted power plant case with Tejgaon police station against Hasina and several others, amid a crackdown on former ruling politicians in the interim period.
It complained that the ex-PM and other accused through mutual understanding and use of influence had helped a foreign company and its local partners win a deal for setting up a barge-mounted 100MW power plant in Khulna, depriving the lowest bidder.
On December 9 last year, the ACC filed the Niko scam case with the same police station. According to the charge sheet, the accused in collusion with one another awarded gas-extraction work in Chhatak, Kamta and Feni gas fields to Niko Resources Ltd, a Canadian company, "to gain personal financial benefit that caused a loss of Tk 136.30 billion (13,630.50 crore) to the state exchequer".