Judge Rezaul Karim Khan of the Special Court for Dhaka Division adjourned the judgment following a time petition filed by the defence.

Earlier Sheikh Serajul Islam, the defence counsel, filed the time petition. As a rationale behind the petition, he said Ershad could not appear before the court, as he was busy distributing relief in the flood-hit areas.

Special Public Prosecutor Fazlur Rahman Khan opposed the prayer and prayed for pronouncing the verdict.

On hearing both the sides, the judge granted the adjournment and fixed September 8 for delivery of the judgment.

Ershad's counsellores had also filed a criminal appeal with the High Court for transferring the case to some other court. In the petition they stated that their client would not get justice from the court. The High Court, however, had directed the divisional court to dispose of the case.

The Bureau of Anti-corruption filed the corruption case accusing Ershad and three tax officials on July 27, 1992.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) gave the BAC nod to file the case against Ershad and three tax officials on November 30,1992. But the same day it decided to exempt the three tax officials from the case.

In the case filed with Ramna Police Station, it was alleged that Ershad, while in power, paid Tk 7,43,416 as income tax for six years (1983-1989). Later, he withdrew Tk 2,76,324 from the income tax money without submitting any documents in favour of his action.

The investigation officer of the case submitted the charge sheet naming Ershad as the lone accused on December 19 the same year. The names of three others were dropped from the charge sheet and they were shown as prosecution witnesses.

The court framed charges against Ershad on June 17, 1993 and recorded statements of three prosecution witnesses during the trial.

A large number of leaders and activists of Jatiya Party (Ershad) yesterday gathered on the court premises. Additional police forces were deployed to avoid any untoward incident.