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Hasina cleared of Noor Ali s extortion case

Police tell trial court of factual errors'; her bail petition earlier turned down by HC, SC

Court Correspondent
Police yesterday cleared former premier also Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina of a Tk 5 crore bribery charge in a case filed by a businessman, Noor Ali, in June last year.
Following filing of the final report by police, a Dhaka court also yesterday cleared Hasina, her cousin Sheikh Helal and his wife Rupa Chowdhury of the charges.
The Supreme Court (SC) and High Court (HC) had earlier rejected Hasina's bail petition in the case.
Officer-in-charge (OC) Lutfor Rahman Khan of Tejgaon police station, who was also the investigation officer (IO), yesterday submitted the final report to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court (CMM) of Dhaka.
In the report, the IO mentioned that the final report cleared Hasina and the two others, as the case had 'factual errors'.
A metropolitan magistrate scrutinised the final report and accepted it following a written application submitted by the prosecution, sources said.
When The Daily Star tried to contact Noor Ali repeatedly to get his reaction, one of his staff said he and his wife left for Canada on Saturday night.
THE CASE
On June 13 last year. Noor Ali, managing director of Unique Group of Companies, filed the case accusing Hasina and her two relatives of extorting Tk 5 crore from him in exchange for mediating a power plant deal in 1997 between the Power Development Board (PDB) and his firm.
In his complaint, Noor Ali alleged that he also had to give two flats to Rupa Chowdhury’, wife of Hasina's cousin Sheikh Helal, after Helal had threatened to interrupt the work of Noor's firm if he did not pay the bribe.
Noor said he handed over Tk 3.2 crore in 12 cheques to Hasina at Ganabhaban between June 8, 1997 and May 20,1999 while the remaining Tk 1.8 crore was channelled through Helal at different times.
In his statement. Noor said after he gave the Tk 5 crore to the accused, they mediated the power plant deal between PDB and his firm with the board issuing an offer letter to his firm in May 1999 for installing the 110MW bargemounted power plant at Haripur.
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He also alleged that Helal later demanded Tk 1 crore more or flats worth the same value as a bribe, threatening to otherwise interfere in the firm's work
Noor said he gave Helal two of his flats in Borak Real Estate at Baridhara from which Helal and his wife are now collecting rents.
Noor soUght AL nomination for the stalled January 22. 2007 election, but was refused.
He said he filed the case with the hope of getting justice as a caretaker government is in power
Following the filing of the case, Hasina was shown arrested on July 16 last year in connection with it after the IO submitted a petition, and later the case was brought under the emergency power rules (EPR).
OTHER CASES AGAINST HAS INA There are 5 other cases pending against Hasina in which she secured bail prior to her departure for abroad.
On June 13 last year, businessman Azam J Chowdhury filed aTk 2.99 crore extortion case against Hasina and his cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim with Gulshan police station.
But police later also implicated Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana in tlie charge sheet
Tajul Islam Farook chairman of Westmont Power Company, filed another extortion case against Hasina with Teigaon police station under non-bailable sections of the penal code.
Taiul implicated her in extortion and abuse of power in 1998, when she was the prijne minister.
The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) had earlier filed Niko graft case and barge-mounted power plant graft case against her and several others with Tejgaon police station on different dates.
The now defunct Bureau of Anticorruption (BAO had also filed a graft case against her and several others in connection with purchase of Mig-29 Slanes, the trial of which began in haka Division Special Court
The High Court (HQ granted bail to Hasina in all 5 cases while proceedings of the Niko and the bargemounted power plant graft cases were also stayed by the court.