GATCO hearing against Khaleda deferred till June 30

Dhaka, Jun 24 (UNI) A special court in Bangladesh today once again deferred till June 30 the hearing on the GATCO scam case against detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and 23 others, including her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and her eight former cabinet colleagues.

The court of Judge Shahed Noor Uddin passed the order as the fate of the case lies with the higher court for disposal.

On June 15, the Supreme Court had adjourned for one month the hearing of the Anti-corruption Commission's appeals against the High Court order that had granted bail to Ms Khaleda and her son in the GATCO corruption case and stayed the case proceedings.

On May 13, the anti-corruption watchdog ACC, after investigations, submitted a chargesheet accusing Khaleda and others of awarding the Gatco company the contract for container handling at depots in Dhaka and Chittagong. The contract incurred a loss of over 14 crore taka to the public exchequer.

Khaleda and her son Koko were arrested from their Dhaka Cantonment residence on September 3 last year a day after the filing of the case.

Misuse of power and collusion among the accused in violating the tender conditions are among the charges brought under the case.

The eight former ministers, who were members of the cabinet purchase committee, were accused of recommending GATCO for the job.

UNI XC SZ DS1345