Hasina’s bail petition rejected
Staff Correspondent
A special court on Tuesday rejected the petition that sought bail for detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the barge-mounted power plant case.
M Firoz Alam, the judge of the special judge’s court 1 of
The court again deferred the hearing as Hasina’s counsels Quamrul Islam and Sahara Khatun sought time saying their senior counsels were busy in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court with the hearing in the government’s petition seeking permission to appeal against the February 6 High Court verdict that had quashed an extortion case against Hasina under the Emergency Powers Rules.
The hearing in charges in the case was deferred on several occasions and lastly on February 19 when the court posted for Tuesday the proceedings a few hours after the Appellate Division deferred till February 25 the hearing in the government’s appeal petition.
The defence counsels on February 19 argued the court should not continue with the trial proceedings in the case as the February 6 High Court verdict was still in force.
On February 13, when Hasina failed to appear in court because of her illness, the defence counsels moved a petition seeking her bail saying that the case should be dismissed as the High Court on February 6 declared illegal the trial of any offence committed before the declaration of the state of emergency under the Emergency Powers Rules.
The bail petition was also heard on February 19 when the prosecution opposed the petition.
On September 2, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director Sabbir Hasan lodged the case with the Tejgaon police accusing Hasina and seven others of helping a foreign company and its local partners to win a deal for the installation of the 100MW barge-mounted power plant in
Three companies allegedly paid the bribe after winning the work order for the installation of the power plant. The amount was spent on buying a house at Dhanmondi for the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust, according to the charge sheet.
The High Court on November 4, 2007 halted the proceedings of the graft case and granted bail to Hasina. It also issued a rule on the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government to explain the legality of placing the case under the emergency rules.
The Appellate Division on November 26, 2007 stayed the execution of the High Court order clearing the way for trial in the case. The Appellate Division also asked the parties to get expeditious disposal of the rule in the High Court. The rule is yet to be heard.
Hasina, shown arrested in the case on September 19, 2007, was produced in the special court on Tuesday at 9.40am and she looked pale as she is suffering from aliments. After the case proceedings, the court allowed her to talk with her relations in the courtroom for half an hour.
Hasina was arrested on July 16, 2007.
The only other accused detained in the case, former power and energy secretary Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, was also produced in court. Although he has obtained bail in the case from the High Court, he is still in jail facing another graft case over the deal with the Niko Resources Limited.
Toufiq was sent to jail after his surrender in court on January 16. Six others accused in the case, now in hiding, are former Power Development Board chairman Noor Uddin Mahmud Kamal, Summit Corporation managing director Mohammad Aziz Khan and its director Mohammad Farid Khan, United Group chairman Hasan Mahmud Raja and its director Abul Kalam Azad and
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