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Graft Case Against Hasina

Charge-framing hearing deferred to Thursday

Staff Correspondent
Three days into the beginning of detained former premier Sheikh Hasina's trial in an extortion case, she was produced before a special court yesterday for arraignment in connection with a Tk 3 crore graft case, but the court rescheduled the hearing forThursday.
The hearing was rescheduled after the defence had petitioned for more time to examine the case documents.
Awami League (AL) President Hasina is facing four cases on different charges, which were filed after the present military backed caretaker government had assumed power and embarked on an anti-graft drive targeting high profile graft suspects.
The prosecution in their introductory submission provided the court with a summary of the case filed by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) in connection with graft in setting up a barge-
mount 100MW power plant in Khulna allegedly depriving the lowest bidder.
Chief Public Prosecutor (CPP) ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukqj-inhis submission mentioned Ghat Hasina awarded the contract of setting up the power plant to Khulna Power Company Ltd (KPCL) in exchange for a bribe ofTk 3 crore paid in eight pay orders.
While the CPP was deliveringhis introductory submission, the defence petitioned the court for more time on grounds of not receiving the case documents yet, examination of which they claimed are necessary to be able to properly defend their client at the arraignmenthearing.
The prosecution opposed the defence's petition that sought a week's adjournment of the hearing, saying that the law does not permit adjournment of a hearing formore than three days.
Mentioning that there is a time ®he ^ailu Star
limit for the trial, Judge Firoz Alam of the special court-1, set up at the Members of Parliament Hostel in the national parliament complex, adjourned the arraignment till February 7. The judge also solicited cooperation from both parties 'so that a congenial atmosphere for the trial prevails in the court'.
During the 45-minute pithy hearing, which started at 9:45am, two of the eight accused, AL chief Hasina and former energy secretary Dr Ibufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, were present in the dock, looking / quite lively.
Meanwhile, following a petition a High Court bench yesterday granted Toufiq bail in the case, and issued a rule upon the government seeking explanation as to why the trial of the case under the Emergency Power Rules should not be declared illegal.
Hasina arrived in the court at 9:38am holding a handbag and a black diary, and conversed with the former energy’ secretary’ intermittently. Earlier, soon after the hearing started, the defence sought permission for letting the accused sit while in the dock, which the court granted at once.
After the court sat, Mukul rose and mentioned to the court that the accused standing in the dock were only the two of eight. Although seven persons had been accused in the first information report, the name of Bangabandhu Memorial Trust (BMT) Curator Sayed Siddiqur Rahman was included on the charge sheet, Mukul told the court.
Mukul said an invitation for international tender was published on October 24, 1996 for setting up barge-mount power plants at three places - Shikalbaha, Hariupur, and 4 Khulna -- prompting responses from 25 companies.
Eighteen of the contestants were found qualified including New England Power Company (NEPC), Wartsila Power Development Ltd, and Summit Group, who bid for the Khulna power plant project, Mukul mentioned in his statement.
Mukul told the court that NEPC was the lowest bidder among the three with a quotation of $4.59 for one KW/hr while the rates offered by Wartsila and Summit were $5.82 and $6.17 respectively.
Wartsila created a company comprising United Group and Summit Group and named the conglomerate KPCL, Mukul mentioned.
Mukul also mentioned that I lasina approved the project summary on October 11, 1997 after she had received eight pay orders made out to Natasha Ahmed and Nasrin .Ahmed, daughters of Badrunnnesa Nahid and neighbours of Bangabandhu Memorial Trust. The bribe was allegedly taken to purchase a two-storey building and 19.11 kathas of land for the trust.
"Some of the pay orders were received by the prime minister herself while the rest were received by Siddiqur Rahman," Mukul said.
As Mukul went on to say that before October 11 Hasina received all eight pay orders from the two ladies, defence counsel Syed Rezaur Rahman stood up petitioning the court for more time.
Rezaur also mentioned that it q wasnotnecessaryforthePPtogoon with the case summary as the defence lawyers had not been informed about many aspects of the case and the PP would have to repeat the information.
Mukul responded by saying that he was just giving his 'opening statement'.
After the court proceedings had been over. Mukul however briefed journalists about the case mentioning that Hasina received three pay orders of total Tk 1.45 crore on October 7,1997, one pay order of Tk 55 lakh on October 8, 1997, and another pay order of Tk 1 crore on November24,1997.
A power purchase and implementation agreement was signed between KPCL and Power Development Board on October 16 ofthe same year.
A time petition for examining the case documents on behalf ofToufiq was also submitted during yesterday's hearing.
Rezaur also petitioned the court for allowing more sitting arrangements in the courtroom to accommodate journalists and defence lawyers. Rezaur also sought permission from the court for meeting their client Hasina.
Prosecution lawyer Syed Shameem Ahsan Habib at that point rose and said more than three days could not be allowed to examine the documents, adding that the defence lawyers did not mention what type of documents they wanted to examine, and those must be examined in the courtroom.
The judge also allowed an hour for the accused to meet with their relatives and 10 of the defence lawyers.
THECASE
ACC Deputy Director Sabbir Hasan lodged die case with Tejgaon police station on September 2 last year, accusing Hasina and six others of using their influence through mutual understanding in helping a foreign company and its local partners win a detd for setting up a barge-mount 100 MW power plant in Khulna depriving the lowest bidder.
Hasina's co-accuscd at the time were former energy secretary Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, former Power Development Board (PDB) chairman Noor Uddin Mahmud Kamal, Managing Director of Summit Industries and Mercantile Corporation Private Ltd Aziz Khan, its Director Farid Khan, United Group Chairman Hasan Mahmud Raja, and its Director Abul Kalam Azad,
Morshed Alam, deputy director of the ACC, submitted the charge sheet in the case on January 10 of this year including the name of BMT Curator Siddiqur Rahman.
A Dhaka court on January 15 issued warrants against former energy secretary Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and the six others.
A Dhaka court transferred the case to the special court on January 27foraspeedytriaL