Dhaka: A court has acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, 3 others, from the case in the Global Agrotrade Private Limited (GATCO) corruption case. It has ordered the trial to begin by framing charges against 12 others.
The other two acquitted are BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain.
The court of Judge Abu Taher of Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 passed the order after the hearing on Thursday (October 24).
The other accused whose trial has begun are former chairman of Chattogram Port Authority Commodore Zulfikar Ali, wife of former minister Colonel Akbar Hossain (late), Jahanara Ansar, two sons Ismail Hossain Saymon and AKM Musa Kajal, Ehsan Yusuf, former Shipping secretary Zulfikar Haider Chowdhury, former member of Chattogram Port Authority AK Rashid Uddin Ahmed and directors of Global Agrotrade Private Limited (GATCO) Shahjahan M Hasib, AM Sanwar Hossain, Syed Tanvir Ahmed, Syed Galib Ahmed and AMM Shahadat Hossain. Accused Ismail Hossain (Saymon) and Shahjahan S Hasib are absconding after getting bail from the High Court.
The hearing of the charge sheet in the case was scheduled for today. Khaleda Zia's lawyers Masud Ahmed Talukder, Joynal Abedin Mejbah, Zakir Hossain and others held a hearing seeking exemption from liability in the case.
ACC prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam opposed the state's plea.
After hearing both sides, the court ordered the three people to be exempted from liability in the case. The court also ordered the trial to begin by framing charges against 12 people.
Khaleda Zia's other lawyer Abdul Hannan Bhuiyan confirmed this.
On September 2, 2007, ACC Deputy Director Md. Golam Shahriar filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station against 13 people.
The then Prime Minister of the four-party coalition government, Khaleda Zia, and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko were accused in the case.
Khaleda Zia and Koko were arrested the next day. The case was included under the Emergency Powers Act on September 18 of that year. The charge sheet was submitted against 24 people, including Khaleda Zia, in the case on May 13 of the following year.
The charge sheet states that the accused, in collusion with each other, caused a loss of Tk. 14 crore 56 lakh 37 thousand 616 to the state by awarding the contract to the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka and the container handling work at the Chattogram Port.
Eight of the 24 accused in the case, including former minister M Saifur Rahman, have died. In addition, former Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami was also acquitted from the case after his death sentence was implemented.