Judge Rezaul Karim Khan of the Special Court for Dhaka Division fixed the date after an hour-long hearing on discharge petitions.

The defence lawyers submitted two discharge petitions and made submissions on the issue but the prosecution opposed those.

Moving the petition, Mosharraf said the charges brought against him are false, fabricated and baseless.

The case was filed against him during the previous Awami League rule as part of a conspiracy to harass him politically, he added.

Special Public Prosecutor Fazlur Rahman Khan opposed the petitions and prayed for framing charges against the accused.

In the case filed with Ramna Police Station, it has been alleged that Mosharraf, while he was in charge of energy and mineral resources ministry during the tenure of previous BNP government, awarded Tk 674.44 crore work to a foreign company for exploration of Barapukuria coal mine at Dinajpur without floating any tender for personal gains. It caused a loss of Tk 16 crore to the state.

The Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAC) filed the case against Mosharraf Hossain on September 1, 1998. Later, the investigation officer included Abdullah's name in the charge sheet.

On January 28 in 2001, the defence lawyers for Mosharraf filed a petition with the High Court for quashing the case.

After the hearing, the HC issued a rule upon the government to explain why the charges should not be quashed and stayed all the proceedings till disposal of the rule.

On April 11 this year, the HC rejected the petition and discharged the rule. It also directed the lower court to dispose of the case.

Advocates Mojibul Haq Chunnu and S Quamruzzaman Mahbub appeared for the accused.