The court has deferred the indictment hearing against incarcerated BNP chief Khaleda Zia and others in the GATCO graft case till Sep 25.

Judge Robiul Alam of the makeshift Dhaka Special Judge Court-3 on the premises of Keraniganj Central Jail gave the order on Thursday (Aug 22), confirmed Khaleda’s counsel Hannan Bhuiyan.

The hearing for the case was scheduled for Thursday but the defendant’s counsel appealed for more time as the former prime minister couldn’t be produced in court on account of undergoing  treatment.

According to the case documents, Khaleda stands accused of causing a loss of Tk 145.63 million to the state exchequer by awarding a container-handling job at Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Dhaka and at Chattogram Port to GATCO.

Challenging the legality of the case, she, placed a writ asking for the dismissal of the case, which resulted in it being held in limbo at the lower court for eight years.

Dismissing the writ, the high court ordered Khaleda to surrender on Feb 23, 2016. After surrendering on Apr 5, 2016 she was granted bail.

On Sep 2, 2007, ACC’s Deputy Director Md Golam Shahriar, lodged a case against 13 people with Tejgaon police.

The list included formers ministers, M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Maulana Motiur Rahman, Khaleda’s younger son Coco and others.

The case now has 20 accused people including, MK Anwar, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, AKM Mosharraf Hossain and others. Of the accused, a former minister, MK Anwar has died.