The High Court has stayed for six months the trial proceedings of a graft case filed against former minister Abdul Latif Siddique.
The bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice AKM Zahirul Hoque passed the order on Wednesday, after hearing a petition filed by Siddique challenging the legality of charge framing in the case.
Advocate Zead-Al-Malum stood for the petition while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
According to case details, Latif Siddique misused his power vested upon him as the jute and textiles minister and sold 2.38 acres of land owned by the Bangladesh Jute Corporation in Bogra's Adamdighi upazila to one Jahanara Rashid in 2011, without floating any tender.
He sold the land for Tk23.94 lakh instead of the original market price of at least Tk64.63 lakh as per government assessment.
By selling the land, Siddiqui made a criminal breach of trust and incurred a loss of Tk40.69 lakh to the public exchequer.
Aminul Islam, the assistant director of the ACC's Bogra branch, filed a case against Siddique and Jahanara with Adamdighi police station in 2017.
On February 18, 2019, ACC submitted the charge sheet against the duo to Bogra's Senior Judicial Magistrate Court.
