Khaleda’s Gatco Graft Case Hearing Deferred Again

A court in this city today scheduled a hearing on August 29 in a graft case involving BNP chair Begum Khaleda Zia and 14 other people.

After a brief hearing on two of the defendants' exemption pleas, Judge Ali Hossen of Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 rescheduled the date.

The court rescheduled the date since the hearing was not concluded today.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) accused 13 persons, including Khaleda and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, of misappropriating enormous sums of money while working with Global Agro Trade (Pvt.) Company Ltd. (GATCO), in a complaint that was filed with Tejgaon Police Station on September 2, 2007.Khaleda Zia and Koko were detained the following day. On September 18 of the same year, the case was added to the Emergency Powers Act.

The anti-graft organization filed charge papers against the BNP leader and 23 other people on May 13 of that year, resulting in 11 prosecutions.

After their deaths on various dates, the names of eleven suspects, including Khaleda's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, were later removed from the charging sheet.