The High Court on Monday stayed the trial proceedings in the Barapukuria coal mine graft case against Hosaf Group chairman Moazzam Hossain for six months.
The bench of Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman and Justice Mohammad Showkat Ali Chowdhury also directed the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain why the proceedings against Moazzam should not be quashed.
Moazzam Hossain is one of four individuals who faced charges framed by a trial court on November 27, 2024.
On the same date, Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia, along with former cabinet members Air Vice Marshal (retd) Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, was discharged from the case.
The three other accused still facing trial include former energy secretary Nazrul Islam, former Petrobangla director Moinul Ahsan, and former Barapukuria Coal Mining Company managing director Md Sirajul Islam Chowdhury.
Initially, 13 individuals were implicated in the case. However, six were excluded over time due to deaths or convictions in unrelated cases. They are executed Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and BNP former ministers Aminul Huq, MK Anwar, M Shamsul Islam, and AKM Mosharraf Hossain.
The ACC had filed the case on February 26, 2008, with Shahbagh police station, accusing Khaleda Zia and others of causing a Tk 159 crore loss to the state by awarding the Barapukuria coal mine operation contract to a Chinese company through alleged abuse of power. A charge sheet was submitted by ACC deputy director Md Abul Kashem Fokir on October 5, 2008.
Senior lawyers ABM Altaf Hossain, Kayser Kamal, and Ruhul Quddus Kazal represented Moazzam Hossain, while Asif Hassan appeared for the ACC.
