A Dhaka court yesterday asked Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia,
pictured, to appear before it on August 10 while adjourning hearing on framing charges in the Barapukuria coalmine graft case.
Dhaka Second Special Judge Hosne Ara Begum set the date as Khaleda refrained from appearing before the court yesterday and pleaded for time through her counsel.
The court asked all the accused to appear before it on the next hearing date.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on February 26, 2008, filed a graft case against Khaleda Zia and 15 others with the Shahbagh police station.
They were accused of causing a loss of 1,590mn taka ($19.87mn) to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operation of Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company through abuse of power.
The High Court later stayed the proceedings of the case and issued a ruling asking why the proceedings shall not be cancelled permanently.
The Supreme Court too upheld the decision, lingering the proceedings for couple of years.
The ACC last year decided to revive the case and following their appeal and on September 17, 2015, the High Court rejected a petition of Khaleda who demanded
cancellation of the graft case.
The court had also asked the BNP chief to surrender before the court within two months of releasing of the full text of the judgement.
The BNP chief on June 26, filed a leave to appeal with the Supreme Court against the High Court order.
ZIA
