The High Court on Tuesday quashed proceedings against incumbent prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a corruption case, filed in 2001, involving the purchase of MiG-29 warplanes during her previous administration.
The bench of justices AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Borhanuddin gave the ruling on a 2008 petition by Hasina challenging the case proceedings against her.
The case accused Sheikh Hasina and six others of incurring financial losses to the state of $129 million in the purchase of eight Russian MiG-29 fighter planes during her previous 1996-2001 term as prime minister.
The former Bureau of Anti-Corruption, the predecessor of the current Anticorruption Commission, filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on Dec 11 2001 just after Hasina left office.
Charges were framed in the case during the regime of the immediate past caretaker government.
The High Court stayed the proceedings on Sep 18 2008 following submission of Hasina's petition.
The court in its ruling Tuesday said the former Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed the case "under the influence of the then BNP-led four party alliance government to tarnish her image".
The High Court judged that there was no evidence of irregularities in the purchase of the warplanes and no legal validity to the case against the prime minister.
Hasina's lawyer Fazle Noor Taposh told reporters after the ruling that the case was filed to "belittle her".
"The ruling said that one should not file such ill motivated cases. The case curbed Hasina's fundamental rights," Taposh said.
Barristers Rafique-ul-Huq and Abdul Matin Khasru argued for Hasina. Advocate Abdul Aziz Khan represented the Bureau of Anti-Corruption.
Last week, on Mar 4, the same High Court bench quashed another three corruption cases against Hasina, which accused her and former cabinet ministers of corruption and irregularities in the construction of the Bangabandhu Novo Theatre during her previous tenure. The court ruled that the case proceedings were "unlawful" and the cases were filed to harass Hasina.
Source: bdnews24.com
