Staff Correspondent

The hearing on framing charges against detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and seven others in the barge-mounted power plant case was again deferred to March 9.

M Firoz Alam, judge of the special judge’s court 1 of Dhaka set up on the Jatiya Sangsad complex, deferred the hearing after defence counsels sought time to look into the documents in the case.

Chief prosecutor Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan Mukul, however, argued that the prosecution should propose the charges against the accused persons and the defence counsels could make their arguments later after examining the documents.

But defence counsels questioned the urgency of proposing charges and argued that the hearing on framing charges should be held after completion of the examination of the case documents by them.

Earlier, on February 26, the court rejected a petition seeking bail for Hasina, also the Awami League president, and deferred to March 3 the hearing on framing of charges in the case as her counsels Quamrul Islam and Sahara Khatun had sought time saying that their senior counsels were busy in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court with the hearing in the government’s petition seeking permission to appeal against the February 6 High Court verdict that quashed an extortion case against the AL chief under the Emergency Powers Rules.

The hearing on charge framing in the power plant case was earlier deferred on February 19 a few hours after the Appellate Division put off till February 25 the hearing in the government’s appeal petition.

The defence counsels on February 19 argued that the court should not continue with the trial proceedings in the case as the February 6 High Court verdict was still in force. Meanwhile, the Appellate Division on February 26 allowed the government to appeal against the February 6 High Court verdict and also stayed the operation of the verdict.

On September 2, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission’s deputy director Sabbir Hasan lodged the case with the Tejgaon police accusing Hasina and seven others of helping a foreign company and its local partners to win a deal for the installation of the 100MW barge-mounted power plant in Khulna, depriving the lowest bidder of the contract.

Three companies allegedly paid Tk 3 crore in bribe after winning the work order for the power plant. The the charge sheet claimed that the money was spent on buying a house at Dhanmondi for the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust.

The High Court on November 4, 2007 halted the proceedings of the graft case and granted bail to Hasina. It also issued a rule on the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government to explain the legality of placing the case under the emergency rules.

The Appellate Division on November 26, 2007 stayed the execution of the High Court order clearing the way for trial in the case. The Appellate Division also asked the parties to get expeditious disposal of the rule in the High Court. The rule is yet to be heard. Hasina, arrested on July 16, 2007 and shown arrested in the power plant case on September 19, 2007, was produced in the special court on Tuesday.

After the case proceedings, the court allowed her to talk to her relations in the courtroom for half an hour. The only other accused detained in the case, former power and energy secretary Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, was also produced in court on Monday.

Toufiq was sent to jail after his surrender in court on January 16. Six others accused in the case, now in hiding, are former Power Development Board chairman Noor Uddin Mahmud Kamal, Summit Corporation managing director Mohammad Aziz Khan and its director Mohammad Farid Khan, United Group chairman Hasan Mahmud Raja and its director Abul Kalam Azad and Bangabandhu Memorial Museum curator Syed Siddiqur Rahman.

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