The High Court on Sunday again ordered the transfer of the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case to another court from the Senior Special Judge’s Court of Dhaka.
An HC bench of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain and Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder passed the order following a petition filed by the BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. However, the HC did not mention the name of the new court. On April 26, the BNP chief filed the petition with the High Court seeking its order to again shift the case to another court from the existing one.
Earlier, on February 8, Khaleda filed a petition with the High Court for transferring the case to a new one. On March 8, an HC bench shifted of the Zia Orphanage Trust graft to the court of Senior Special Judge Quamrul Hossain Mollah from the judge of Special Judge’s Court-3 Abu Ahmed Jamadar. It had also asked the Senior Special Judge’s Court to dispose of the case within 60 days.
Khaleda’s lawyer Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon filed the new petition as the BNP chief expressed no-confidence in the Special Judge’s Court. In the petition, the BNP chief sought an HC rule asking the authorities concerned to explain why the case should not be shifted to another court, Khokon said.
Khaleda’s petition also sought a stay order on the case proceedings until the rule is disposed of.
The ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, now living in the UK, and four others for misappropriating over Tk 2.10 crore that came as grants from a foreign bank for orphans.
