A Dhaka court on Monday set September 25 for the hearing on charge framing in the Barapukuria coal mine graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and six others.

The court fixed the afresh date following a plea filed by Khaleda's lawyer as Begum Zia could not appear before the court on Monday due to poor health conditions.

Judge (acting) Syeda Hosne Ara of Dhaka Special Judge Court-2 accepted the plea and passed the order.

On February 26, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the graft case against Khaleda Zia and 15 others with Shahbagh police station on charge of causing a loss of Tk159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for the operation of Barapukuria Coalmine to a Chinese company through abuse of power.

The total 16 accused are Begum Khaleda Zia, M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan

Bhuiyan, Matiur Rahman Nizami, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, MK Anwar, M Shamsul Islam, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Barrister Aminul Huq, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Nazrul Islam, SR Osmani, Moinul Ahsan, Md Sirajul Islam and Moazzem Hossain.

Of the accused, convicted war criminals Nizami and Mojaheed have been hanged and four others have died of natural causes.

BDST: 1340 HRS, JUN 13, 2022
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