The High Court (HC) on Wednesday rejected two writ petitions filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia challenging the inclusion and legality of the Gatco graft case against her.An HC bench comprising Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Abdur Rab passed the order.The bench also asked Khalida Zia to surrender before the lower court in two months.Earlier on August 2, the HC fixed the date for delivering the judgment. On June 17, the same bench concluded the final hearing on the two petitions filed by Khaleda challenging the legality and the inclusion of the Gatco graft case against her after closing arguments in the trial of the case.On September 2, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Gatco graft case against Khaleda and 12 others for causing a loss of Tk145.64 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.Khaleda on September 27, 2007 filed a petition with the HC challenging the legality of the inclusion of the case under the Emergency Powers Act and seeking a stay order on the trial proceedings.In 2008, an HC bench issued a rule and stayed the trial proceedings after hearing a petition of the BNP chief.In the same year, the proceedings of the graft case were stayed again as Khaleda filed another petition challenging the legality of the case.
