Khaleda seeks records, final report from HC

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday prayed to the High Court to call for all records and a final report of Barapukuria coalmine corruption case against her from the authorities concerned.

Khaleda placed the prayer through filing two separate petitions with the HC in order to ascertain the legal procedure under which the Anti-Corruption Commission appointed the second investigation officer to probe the case after the first IO had exempted her from the case in June 2008, Raghib Rauf Chowdhury, a lawyer for Khaleda, told The Daily Star.

Meanwhile, ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star that the petitions were submitted in order to drag the trial proceedings of the case.

The ACC filed the case on February 26, 2008 accusing Khaleda and 15 others of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operating Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company through abuse of power.

Later, the HC stayed the case proceedings for several times and issued a rule on the government and the ACC to explain why the case against Khaleda should not be scrapped.