SC clears way for trial of Nizami, Mojaheed

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court verdict that cleared the way for a lower court to run the trial proceedings against Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed in the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case.

The four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha dismissed two separate appeals filed by the accused challenging the HC verdict.

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The apex court came up with the order as no lawyer stood for the two during the hearing, Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

ACC filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station on February 26, 2008, against 16 people including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Nizami and Mojaheed on charge of causing a loss of Tk 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operating the Barapukuria coalmine to a Chinese company through abuse of power.

On December 14, 2011, the HC rejected two separate petitions filed by Nizami and Mojaheed for quashing the proceedings against them.

Nizami and Mojaheed, who have been sentenced to death for committing war crimes in 1971, filed the appeals with the SC in 2012 against the HC verdict.