Charges proposed against Hasina in power plant case
Courtesy New Age 10/3/08
The prosecution on Sunday proposed framing charges against the detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and seven others in the barge-mounted power plant scam case.
The chief prosecutor, Sharfuddin Ahmed Mukul, proposed the charges as M Firoz Alam, the judge of the special judge’s court 1 of Dhaka set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex to try high-profile graft suspects, started the hearing the framing of charges in the case against the eight after deferment of the hearing for five times.
Hasina’s counsels also on Sunday pleaded deferring the hearing once again because of the illness of Hasina, who was looking pale as she entered the courtroom at around 10.20am.
‘If she is too sick, she may go to jail, but the hearing will continue,’ said the judge, adding that he had to complete the trial in a limited timeframe.
The court, however, posted the next hearing for Thursday as the defence counsels sought time to make their arguments, saying they needed time to prepare the petition seeking Hasina’s discharge from the case.
Proposing charges against Hasina, also the Awami League president, and seven others, Sharfuddin argued that Hasina, then prime minister, helped a foreign company and its local partners to win a deal for the installation of the 100MW barge-mounted power plant in
Three companies paid the bribe after winning the work order for the power plant installation and the amount was spent on buying a house at Dhanmondi for the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust, he told the court.
Sharfuddin argued for charging Hasina with taking bribe being a public servant under Section 161 of the Penal Code and committing criminal misconduct by taking undue gratitude being a public servant under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
He also proposed charges against seven others, including former power and energy secretary Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, for helping Hasina in committing the offences under Section 109 and 165A of the Penal Code.
The charges are punishable with imprisonment for three years under Section 161 of Penal Code and seven years under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The punishment for abetment under Section 165A of the Penal Code is imprisonment for three years and the punishment under Section 109 of the code is similar to the punishment for the original offence.
Beside Hasina, the only other accused detained in the case, Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, was also produced in court.
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
Sharfuddin argued the Wartsila Power Development Ltd Consortium and its local partners, Summit Group and United Group, won the deal when Hasina was prime minister.
Accused Aziz Khan, Farid Khan, Hasan Mahmud and Abul Kalam paid Tk 3 crore in eight cheques and pay orders to the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust to buy a two-storey building and 19.11 kathas of land at Dhanmondi for the trust.
The cheques and pay orders were issued between October 7, 1997 and November 24, 1997.
The accused paid the money on behalf of the owners of Wartsila and its local business partners, Summit Group and United Group, according to the investigation, Sharfuddin contended.
On September 2, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director Sabbir Hasan lodged the case with the Tejgaon police.
Hasina was arrested on July 16, 2007 and shown arrested in the power plant case on September 19, 2007.
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