Extortion case against Hasina shifted to special court

The Tk 2.99-crore extortion case filed against former premier Sheikh Hasina, now on parole, her sister Sheikh Rehana and their cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim was transferred to a special court on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises yesterday for trial.

Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court, Dhaka, who had earlier started recording statement of the complainant, ordered the case to be sent to the Special Court-5 for quick disposal.

The case did not have a schedule hearing today.

On Thursday, the prosecution submitted a petition for fixing a date for hearing on the case but the court did not pass any order on the matter.

Special Public Prosecutor Sahidul Islam Sardar submitted a petition to the court, after getting a certified copy of the Supreme Court (SC) judgment, saying that the SC cleared the legal bar to continue the trial proceedings. He prayed for fixing a new date for hearing on the case.

When asked about the transfer order, Sardar told The Daily Star that he heard about the transfer of the case but he did not know why the trial court transferred it to another court for trial.

The case, filed by Azam J Chowdhury, was earlier quashed by the High Court (HC) following a writ petition submitted by Hasina’s lawyers challenging the legality of the case that was brought under the Emergency Power Rules, 2007 (EPR).

The SC on May 8 stayed the HC order and cleared way for the trial to continue under the EPR.

Eastcoast Trading Pvt Ltd Managing Director Azam J Chowdhury on June 13, 2007 filed the case against Hasina and her cousin former minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim in connection with extorting Tk 2.99 crore from him in exchange for the contract of setting up the Siddhirganj Power Plant in Narayanganj.

On July 16, 2007, the home ministry directed the police to bring the case under the EPR.

Investigation officer of the case Obaidul Haque on July 24 indicted Hasina, Rehana and Selim for extortion. He did not include the relevant sections of the EPR while indicting.

Following Hasina’s writ filed on July 29 last year, an HC bench of Justice Nayeem and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury issued a rule upon the caretaker government asking it to reply as to why its approval for bringing the case under EPR should not be declared illegal.

After hearing the state, the HC on February 6 quashed the case saying that the proceedings already taken and under process were without lawful authority.

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