Dhaka: The High Court on Thursday extended its stay order by six months on the proceedings of the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case filed against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

New HC bench comprising judges M Nuruzzaman and M Jafar Ahmed passed the order after a hearing on a petition filed by Khaleda’s lawyers Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Ehsanur Rahman.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Barapukuria coalmine corruption case against Khaleda Zia in 2008.

During the military-backed caretaker government, the ACC on 26 February 2008 filed the case with Shahbagh Police Station in the capital accusing former prime minister Khaleda Zia and others, including her former 10 cabinet colleagues, of taking kickbacks amounting to about Tk 159 crore on the Barapukuria coalmine deal awarded to the highest bidder instead of the lowest one.

Nearly six and half years ago, responding to a petition filed by the principal accused Khalea Zia, the High Court on 16 October 2008 had stayed the case proceedings and issued a rule upon the ACC to explain why the case filed against the accused should not be quashed.

Recently, the ACC took initiatives to respond to the rule.

On 11 March 2105, the BNP chief submitted a no-confidence application to the Chief Justice through her lawyers, saying she might not get proper justice from the bench of Moinul Islam Chowdhury and JBM Hassan as one of the lawyers of the bench took part in the Supreme Court Bar election under the ruling party banner.

On 5 April, the previous bench of Moinul Islam Chowdhury and JBM Hassan sent appeals to the chief justice for immediate solution following the no-confidence application field by Khaleda Zia.

On 7 April, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha formed a bench to deal with the petitions filed in Niko, Gatco and Barapukuria coalmine scam cases.

On 8 April, the High Court assigned a new bench comprising M Nuruzzaman and M Jafar Ahmed to dispose of four separate petitions filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in three graft cases against her.