Court Correspondent :The Third Special Court of Dhaka on Sunday fixed April 25 to hear the statement of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia Under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case.Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar of the make shift court, set up on the playground of Govt Alia Madrasah in the city’s Bakshibazar, passed the order after several altercations between the prosecution and defence lawyers. Besides, the court rejected two petitions filed on behalf of Khaleda Zia–one for cross-examining the Investigation Officer of the case again and the other is to show the case document under Section 172 (2) of CrPC– filed by the defence lawyers. Later, the court granted a time petition filed by the lawyers of the BNP Chief for moving their pleas to the High Court and fixed April 25 for arguments. The court will also hear the arguments of the defence on that day. On August 8, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station against four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the Trust from certain unknown sources.Besides, the ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Model Police Station accusing Khaleda Zia, her eldest son Tareque Rahman and four others for misappropriating over Tk 21 million (2.10 crore) that came as grants from a foreign bank for orphans.
