Dhaka: The High Court on Wednesday set February 9 for the long-pending rule hearings on the two writ petitions filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia over the Gatco scam case.

An HC division bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan fixed the date, following a petition submitted by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

On September 2, 2007, during the army-backed caretaker administration, the ACC filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko (now dead) and some her Cabinet colleagues for graft in awarding Gatco, a greenhorn, the contract for container handling at depots in Dhaka and Chittagong, causing a loss of over Tk 14 crore to the state coffer.

Emerging from the court, Khurshid Alam Khan, the counsel for ACC, told reporters that the duo writ petitions—one for challenging the legality of the ACC action that initiated the Gatco scam case and its approval to submit the charge-sheet and the other for challenging the validity of bringing the charges brought against the accused under the Emergency Power Rules, 2007-- have been pending for a long time.

The ACC counsel said both the accused staying in custody, filed two writ petitions in connection with the Gatco scam cases with the High Court on September 27, 2007 and the HC on September 30, while issuing rules stayed the operation of the proceedings of the case. Later responding to an ACC plea, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court revoked the HC stay order, he added.

Shortly after the apex court order, the ACC counsel further said, Khaleda Zia filed another writ petition challenging the validity of initiating the case and the HC while issuing rule further stayed the Gatco scam case proceedings in July 2008.