Graft case: Dhaka Court issues summons against Khaleda Zia

A Dhaka court on Sunday asked Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia to appear before it on August 10 in connection with the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case.

Judge Hosne Ara Begum of the Special Judge's Court-2 passed the order after former prime minister Zia's lawyer Taherul Islam Towhid submitted a petition seeking an adjournment of the case hearing, reports the Daily Star.

In the petition, Towhid said that Zia, who was asked to appear before the court today could not come due to security grounds.

Five other accused, including BNP leaders Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and AKM Mosharraf Hossain, were present in the court during the hearing.

The court had earlier on June 12 asked Zia and ten other accused to appear before it today.

The High Court had on May 25 directed the trial court to proceed with the corruption case and vacated its 2008 stay order on the case proceedings.

On September 17 last year, the High Court rejected a writ petition filed by the Zia in 2008 challenging the legality of trial proceedings in the case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) earlier that year.

The Anti Corruption Commission accuses Zia and 15 others of causing a loss of Tk 159 crores to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operation of Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company between June 2003 and June 2005.

In 2008, the ACC pressed charges against Zia and 14 others in the case.