The High Court has quashed the barge mounted power plant graft case against prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

The bench of justices Md Shamsul Huda and Md Abu Bakar Siddiqui gave the ruling on Tuesday.

The Anticorruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against Hasina and four others on Sept 2, 2007 during the military backed caretaker government regime alleging that the accused has taken Tk 3 crore in 'donations' to Bangabandhu Memorial Trust as part of approving a contract setting up three barge mounted power plants.

The case alleged that the accused had colluded with Wartsila Power Development to install the three power plants instead of selecting the lowest bidder

Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh argued for Hasina while Khurshid Alam Khan represented the ACC.

Hasina filed a petition challenging the legality of the case on Oct 28 2007. In July of the following year the High Court stayed proceedings in the case.

Hasina's lawyer Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, told reporters after the ruling that the court had quashed the case since the filing of the case, the manner of investigation and the approval of the charge sheet was not done properly.

ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan, however, said that a case cannot be quashed during the process of witness deposition, and that there were many grounds upon which to appeal against this ruling.