SC clears way for Khaleda’s Gatco graft trial

The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for a lower court to run trial proceedings against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Gatco corruption case.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed two leave-to appeal petitions filed by Khaleda seeking stay on the trial proceeding.

Earlier, on May 10, 2016, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the High Court order that rejected her two petitions challenging the legality of the Gatco graft case and its inclusion under the Emergency Powers Act.

On August 5, 2015, the High Court rejected the writ petition filed by Khaleda challenging the initiation and continuation of the case.

On September 2, 2007, the ACC filed the Gatco graft case against Khaleda, her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and 10 others for causing a loss of Tk 145.64 crore to the national exchequer by allegedly awarding the contract of container handling at the Chittagong port and the Dhaka's Inland Container Depot to Gatco.

According to the case statement, there was corruption in the awarding of a contract to Global Agro Trade (Pvt) Company Ltd (Gatco) for container management at inland depots in Dhaka and Chittagong. The graft allegedly cost the state exchequer over Tk 1,000 crore.