Radar purchase case: Appeal filed with SC against HC order

An appeal was filed with the Supreme Court today against a High Court order that asked the lower court to finish the trial proceedings of 24-year-old radar purchase scam case against Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad and three others by March 31 next year.

Former air chief Sultan Mahmud, also an accused in the case, submitted the leave to appeal petition to the Appellate Division of the SC through his advocate on record Syed Mahbubur Rahman seeking stay on the HC order.

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He said in the leave to appeal petition that the HC passed the order without hearing his arguments.

The apex court chamber judge may hold hearing on the appeal tomorrow, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star. 

Following an ACC petition, the HC on November 24 directed the trial court to finish the trial proceedings of the case by March 31 next year.

The lower court concerned can record statements of the case's rest 26 prosecution witnesses if they are produced by this period, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan said in the order.

The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed the case with Cantonment Police on May 4, 1992. Ershad in collusion with others allegedly caused a loss of Tk 64.04 crore to the state exchequer by purchasing radars from the US instead of France for the air force while he was in power, according to the case statement.

On August 12, 1995, the trial court framed charges against Ershad, former air chiefs Sultan Mahmud and Mamtazuddin Ahmed, and director of United Traders Ltd AKM Musa. Musa has been absconding since the case was filed.

The court earlier recorded statements of 12 witnesses out of 38.