Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Thursday directed the court to conclude trial proceedings of radar purchase corruption case against former President of the country and Jatiya Party Chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad and three others by March 31 next year.
The court also ordered the trial court to record statements of 26 prosecution witnesses in the case.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and
Justice J B M Hassan passed the order after hearing on a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission seeking its directives to the lower court to record statements of 26 out of 38 prosecution witnesses.
The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) filed the case against Ershad and three others with Cantonment PS on May 4, 1992. Abdus Sattar Sarkar, a former BAC official, pressed charges against them on October 27, 1994.
According to the case statement, Ershad in collusion with others had allegedly caused a loss of Tk 64.04 crore to the State Exchequer by purchasing radars from the USA instead of France for the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) when he was in power.
On August 12, 1995, the trial court framed charges against Ershad and three others- former BAF Chiefs Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Sultan Mahmud and Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed and A K M Musa, director of United Traders Ltd. Of them, Musa has been absconding since the case was filed.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan took part in the hearing on behalf of the ACC. He said that the special court earlier recorded statements of 12 out of 38 witnesses in the case, and started hearing arguments without recording testimony of the rest 26 witnesses.
A Special Court on November 8, rejected ACC’s appeal to record witnesses of the rest 26. Then ACC filed a revision petition with the High Court against special court order, praying to direct the lower court to record the statements of the rest of the witnesses in the case, the ACC lawyer added.
The High Court (HC) on Thursday directed the court to conclude trial proceedings of radar purchase corruption case against former President of the country and Jatiya Party Chairman Hussain Muhammad Ershad and three others by March 31 next year.
The court also ordered the trial court to record statements of 26 prosecution witnesses in the case.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and
Justice J B M Hassan passed the order after hearing on a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission seeking its directives to the lower court to record statements of 26 out of 38 prosecution witnesses.
The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) filed the case against Ershad and three others with Cantonment PS on May 4, 1992. Abdus Sattar Sarkar, a former BAC official, pressed charges against them on October 27, 1994.
According to the case statement, Ershad in collusion with others had allegedly caused a loss of Tk 64.04 crore to the State Exchequer by purchasing radars from the USA instead of France for the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) when he was in power.
On August 12, 1995, the trial court framed charges against Ershad and three others- former BAF Chiefs Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Sultan Mahmud and Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed and A K M Musa, director of United Traders Ltd. Of them, Musa has been absconding since the case was filed.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan took part in the hearing on behalf of the ACC. He said that the special court earlier recorded statements of 12 out of 38 witnesses in the case, and started hearing arguments without recording testimony of the rest 26 witnesses.
A Special Court on November 8, rejected ACC’s appeal to record witnesses of the rest 26. Then ACC filed a revision petition with the High Court against special court order, praying to direct the lower court to record the statements of the rest of the witnesses in the case, the ACC lawyer added.
