A Dhaka court has acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and two others in the Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Company Ltd (Gatco) corruption case.
The other two acquitted individuals are former minister Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.
Judge Abu Taher of Dhaka's Special Court-3 passed the order after a hearing.
However, the court has ordered the commencement of the trial against 12 others.
The case was scheduled for the charge-framing hearing on Thursday.
Khaleda Zia's lawyer submitted her attendance on her behalf. Following this, the charge-framing hearing began.
Defence lawyers Masud Ahmed Talukdar, Zia Uddin Zia, Syed Zainul Abedin Mezbah, and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan argued for acquittal.
On the other hand, the Anti-Corruption Commission's Public Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam argued in favor of framing charges.
After hearing both sides, the court acquitted Khaleda Zia and two others from the case. However, charges were framed against the remaining 12 accused.
On September 2 in 2007, the ACC filed a case against 13 people, including Khaleda and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko with Tejgaon police station on charges of misappropriating huge money while dealing with Gatco.
The next day, Khaleda Zia and Koko were arrested. The case was included in the Emergency Powers Act on September 18 of the same year.
On May 13, 2008, the anti-graft body pressed charge sheets against the BNP chief and 23 others, inflicting 11 in the case.
Later, the names of eleven accused, including Khaleda's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, were dropped from the charge sheet following their deaths on different dates.
