Dhaka: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday rejected a petition filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for quashing proceedings of Barapukuria coalmine corruption case against her.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, rejected the plea this morning, said M Khurshed Alam Khan, lawyer of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Earlier on 22 May, the Appellate Division fixed 28 May for delivering its verdict on the petition.

On 17 September last year, the High Court (HC) also rejected a petition filed by Khaleda Zia for quashing proceedings of the case.

Later, she filed a petition with the Appellate Division seeking cancellation of the HC verdict as well as the quashing of the graft case proceedings.

On 26 February, 2008, the ACC filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station, accusing Khaleda Zia and 10 of her former cabinet colleagues of taking Tk159 crore in kickbacks on the Barapukuria coalmine deal awarded to the highest bidder, instead of the lowest one.

Responding to a petition filed by Khaleda, the HC on October 16, 2008, stayed the case proceedings and issued a rule asking the ACC to explain why the case should not be quashed.

The Appellate Division later upheld the stay order as well, leaving the corruption case in the cold.

Khaleda, however, managed to secure a permanent bail in the case on 15 January, 2012.

Following a petition of the ACC, the HC revived the case on 2 March of that year.

On 23 August, the HC turned down two petitions filed by Khaleda seeking all records of and the final report on Barapukuria coalmine graft case from the authorities concerned.