Radar purchase case: HC order on recording testimony of 26 witnesses tomorrow

The High Court will pass order tomorrow on a petition seeking its directive on the trial court to record statements from 26 out of total 38 prosecution witnesses in Radar purchase scam case against Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad and three others.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan today fixed the date after concluding hearing on the petition filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
The trial court earlier recorded statements from 12 out of 38 witnesses in the case, and started hearing arguments without recording testimony of the rest 26 witnesses, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.
He said the ACC submitted an application to the lower court concerned to record statements from the rest 26 witnesses, but the court on November 8 rejected the petition.
The ACC recently filed a revision petition with the HC, praying to it to direct the lower court to record the statements from the rest of the witnesses in the case, the ACC lawyer added.       
The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption filed the case against Ershad and four others with Cantonment police on May 4, 1992. Abdus Sattar Sarkar, a former BAC official, pressed charges against them on October 27, 1994.
On August 12, 1995, the trial court framed charges against Ershad and three others-- former air chiefs Sultan Mahmud and Mamtazuddin Ahmed and AKM Musa, director of United Traders Ltd. Of them, Musa has been absconding since the case was filed.
According to the case statement, Ershad in collusion with others had 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.