The High Court yesterday rejected the petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia challenging the legality of trial proceedings against her in Gatco graft case.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Abdur Rob passed the order on Wednesday afternoon.
The court also asked Khaleda to surrender before the trial court within two months from the date of publishing the full order of the High Court.
On Jun 17, the same bench kept the petitions waiting for verdict.
Following the court order Khaleda’s lawyer Khandaker Mahbub Hossain told reporters that they would go to the higher court after the full verdict is published.
On September 2, 2007, the ACC filed the case with Tejgaon police station against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her younger son late Arafat Rahman Koko along with some of her cabinet
colleagues.
The case was filed for graft in awarding Gatco the contract for container handling at depots in Dhaka and Chittagong allegedly causing a loss of over Tk14 crore to the state coffer.
Khaleda filed two writ petitions in connection with the Gatco scam cases with the High Court on September 27, 2007.
The High Court stayed the operation of the proceedings of the case on September 30.
Later, responding to an ACC plea, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court revoked the HC stay order, he added.
Shortly after the apex court order, Khaleda Zia filed another writ petition challenging the validity of initiating the case and the HC further stayed the Gatco scam case proceedings in July 2008, the ACC counsel
further said.