Staff Reporter:
A court in Dhaka has set 6 March for the hearing on charges against 15 people, including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, in the Global Agrotrade Private Limited (GATCO) corruption case.
On Thursday, Judge Ali Hossain of the 3rd Special Court of Dhaka was scheduled to hear the case. On this day, Khaleda Zia’s lawyer Masood Ahmed Talukder gave a partial hearing. After that, the lawyer applied for adjournment of the hearing. The court granted the petition for time and set for 6 March.
Khaleda Zia’s lawyers Zia Uddin Zia and Hannan Bhuia confirmed the matter.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Golam Shahriar Chowdhury filed the case on 2 September, 2007 at Tejgaon Police Station. Thirteen people, including the then prime minister of the four-party coalition government Khaleda Zia and her (Khaleda) younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, were accused in the case.
Khaleda Zia and her son were arrested the day after filing of the case. On 18 September that year, the case was included in the Emergency Powers Act. Next year, on 13 May, the charge sheet was submitted against 24 people, including Khaleda Zia.
The complaint asserts that through collusion, the accused facilitated the assignment of the container handling contract at both the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka and the Chittagong Port to the contracting company GATCO, leading to a financial loss of Tk 14 crore 56 lakh 37 thousand 616 to the state
Out of the 24 accused in this case, eight, including former minister M Saifur Rahman have died. Besides, former Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Matiur Rahman Nizami was acquitted in the case following execition of the death sentence.
Currently, there are 15 accused in this case, including Khaleda Zia. Others are: former minister Dr. Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain, BNP Standing Committee member Ameer Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, former chairman of Chittagong Port Authority Commodore Zulfikar Ali, wife of late minister Colonel (retd) Akbar Hossain Jahanara Anshar, two sons Ismail Hossain Simon and AKM Musa Kajal, Ehsan Yusuf, former Naval Secretary Zulfikar Haider Chowdhury, former member of Chittagong Port Authority AK Rashid Uddin Ahmed, then GATCO Director Shahjahan M Hasib, Syed Tanveer Ahmed and Syed Ghalib Ahmed, former Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority ASM Shahadat Hossain, and former Director (Transport) of Port AM Sanwar Hossain.
Advocate Syed Md. Zainul Abedin Mesbah, Co-Legal Affairs Secretary of BNP’s National Executive Committee, remarked, “GATCO is a case of hiring illegal contractors by misusing governmental power. While the case statement cites a loss of Tk 1,000 crore, the charge sheet indicates a loss of Tk 3.60 lakhs. It appears that these cases are primarily aimed at sidelining politicians from active participation in politics. While the current prime minister has been acquitted in most instances, cases against Begum Khaleda Zia persist. Such cases seem to be driven by political victimisation.”
