A Dhaka court has acquitted BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, along with the party’s standing committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, in the long-standing Gatco graft case.
Judge Abu Taher of Dhaka Special Judges’ Court-3 issued the order on Thurdsay following a
hearing. Another Dhaka court scraped a case against the BNP chief and three others over the death of 42 people across the country during BNP’s blockade programme and general strikes in 2014.
Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ziadur Rahman issued the order, accepting a police report filed in this regard.
In the Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Company Ltd (Gatco) corruption case, the Dhaka court, however, ordered the commencement of the trial against 12 others. The case was scheduled for the charge-framing hearing on Thursday.
Khaleda Zia’s lawyer submitted her attendance on her behalf. Following this, the charge-framing hearing began in the court.
Defence lawyers Masud Ahmed Talukdar, Zia Uddin Zia, Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah, and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan argued for acquittal.
On the other hand, Public Prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Mir Ahmed Ali Salam argued in favor of framing charges.
After hearing both sides, the court acquitted Khaleda Zia and two others from the case. However, charges were framed against the remaining 12 accused.
On September 2 in 2007, the ACC filed the Gatco graft case against 13 people, including Khaleda Zia and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko with Tejgaon police station in the capital on charges of misappropriating huge money while dealing with Gatco.
The next day, Khaleda Zia and Koko were arrested. The case was included in the Emergency Powers Act on September 18 of the same year.
On May 13 in 2008, the anti-graft body pressed charge-sheets against the BNP chief and 23 others, inflicting 11 in the case.
Later, the names of eleven accused, including Khaleda Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, were dropped from the charge sheet following their deaths on different dates.
Meanwhile, in the murder case, the Dhaka court dismissed charges against Khaleda Zia and three others in the case filed over the deaths of 42 people during the countrywide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance in 2014.
The other accused in the case were BNP standing committee member Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia, former BNP vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury and Khaleda Zia's adviser and former Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Emajuddin Ahmed.
The investigation, led by Sub-Inspector Shaheen Mollah of Gulshan Police Station, concluded that the charges under sections 302 (murder), 34 (common intention), and 109 (abetment) of the Penal Code could not be proven.
The probe report was submitted on September 21 of this year. The case was originally filed on February 2 in 2015 by AB Siddique, president of the pro-Awami League group Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad.
Siddique accused Khaleda of orchestrating the violence and alleged that the other defendants incited the attacks, which involved petrol bombs and explosives, resulting in 42 deaths and numerous injuries.
