A Dhaka court on Tuesday again deferred the charge framing hearing in the Barapukuria coal mine graft case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and others
Judge AHM Ruhul Imran of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-2 deferred the charge frame hearing until January 12 after Khaleda Zia’s Counsel Masud Ahamed Talukder filed a time petition.
On February 26, 2008, ACC Assistant Director Md Samsul Alam filed the case against Khaleda Zia and 15 others, including 10 ministers, for causing a loss of Tk159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for the operation of the Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company by abusing power.
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On October 5, 2008, the ACC submitted the charge sheet against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, 10 of her former cabinet colleagues and five others.
The charge-sheeted accused also include M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, Matiur Rahman Nizami, M Shamsul Islam, MK Anwar, Aminul Haque, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid and AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Nazrul Islam, former energy secretary, former Petrobangla chairman SR Osmani, former director Moinul Ahsan, former managing director of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Sirajul Islam, and chairman of Hosaf Group Moazzem Hossain.
Of the 16, seven have already died and their names are expected to be dropped from the case.
