Hearing against Khaleda, others deferred

Court Correspondent :
A Dhaka court on Sunday deferred hearing on framing charge in two graft cases filed against BNP Chief Begum Khaleda Zia and others in the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases.
Judge-in-Charge Md Rezaul Islam of the Special Judge Court-3 of Dhaka fixed March 19 for hearing on charge framing in the two cases.
The judge set the new date adjourning the hearing for 50 times, despite the counsel for the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) opposed the time petition filed by the BNP Chairperson now on bail.
In the time petition, Begum Khaleda Zia sought time as she fell sick.
The ACC counsel, Mosharraf Hossain Kajol also mentioned that the charge hearing in the two cases has been deferred for 50 times in the last two years.
Advocates Sanaullah Miah, Masud Ahmed Talukder and some other pro-BNP lawyers appeared on behalf of Khaleda Zia.
On August 8, 2011, the ACC filed the Zia Charitable Trust case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.
The other three accused are: The BNP Chief’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his former assistant personal secretary Ziaul Islam Munna, and Manirul Islam Khan, former personal secretary of the mayor of Dhaka City Corporation Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
Harris left the country in 2007 and has been staying abroad since then. He was mentioned as an absconding accused in the charge sheet. Ziul Islam and Manirul Islam are on bail.
On the other hand, the ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda Zia, her elder son Tareque Rahman and four others of misappropriating over Tk 2.10 crore which came as grants from a foreign bank for the orphans. The other four accused are: Mominur Rahman, nephew of Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda’s former principal secretary Dr Kamaluddin Siddique, former BNP MP Kazi Salkimul Haque and Sharfuddin Ahmed.
Senior Vice Chairman of BNP, Tareque Rahman left the country for London for treatment after obtaining bail from the Supreme Court in 2008.