Jatiya Party Chairman and prime minister’s Special Envoy HM Ershad yesterday claimed innocence andsought justice in the radar purchase graft cased filed against him in 1992 by the now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC).
The court read out charges brought against him by 12 witnesses.Two other accused former Air Force chiefs (retd) Sultan Ahmed and Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed also pleaded not guilty.
Judge of the Special Divisional Court, Dhaka, Md Abdur Rashid set the date for the next hearing on May 29.
On April 24, the court concluded recording statements made by the 12 witnesses in the much-talked-about rader purchase corruption case.
The then anti-corruption officer and Assistant Superintendent of the BAC Md Ali Haider filed the case with the Cantonment police station in the capital on April 4, 1992.
After a long investigation, Investigation OfficerManjur Ahmed AbdusSattar Sarkar, an official of the then BAC, pressed charges against Ershad and four others on October 27, 1994mentioning 38 people as prosecution witnesses.
On August 12, 1995, a charge was filed against the accused. The proceedings of the case were adjourned from August 12, 1995 to 1998 on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The High Court cleared the way for trial on August 8, 2006 after proceedings had been stayed for a long time. The trial resurfaced on November 2, 2010 after the case was filed, 22 years ago.
In the case, the plaintiff stated that when Ershad was presidenthe,by misusing his power, purchased radars for Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) in collusion with four others thereby causing a loss of Tk640.4 million.
Another accused in the case is Director of the United Traders AKM Musa. He had been absconding since the case was filed.
Proprietor of the United TradersShazed Ali’sname was dropped from the charge sheet.