Khaleda's no-trust in an HC bench

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday stated of not having confidence in a two-member High Court bench, set to deliver on April 5 a verdict on her petition seeking to scrap the Barapukuria coal mine corruption case against her.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on February 26, 2008, accusing the former prime minister and 15 others of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by abusing power to award a Chinese company the contract to run the coal mine.

Khaleda apprehended being denied justice over two issues. One was that the verdict date was set without her lawyers' arguments being heard, one of Khaleda's counsels told The Daily Star quoting the no-confidence application as saying.

The other was that Justice Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury had been elected vice president of the Supreme Court Bar Association from the ruling Awami League panel before he became a judge, said the lawyer requesting anonymity.

Justice JBM Hassan is the HC bench's other member.

Khaleda urged Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, who accepted the application at his Supreme Court office in the afternoon, to transfer the petition to another HC bench for hearing and disposal, said Bodruddoza Badal, one of Khaleda's four lawyers who submitted the application.

Bodruddoza hoped that Justice Sinha will take a decision before the verdict delivery.

Hearing arguments from ACC's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan on March 5, the HC bench had fixed March 10 for the judgment.

That day the date was deferred to March 15, following Khaleda's lawyer Zainul Abedin's prayer stating that they would place arguments.

The date was again deferred to April 5 after Khaleda's lawyer Bodroddoza Badal stated that her senior counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and her another lawyer AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon had failed to appear due to personal difficulties.