bdnews24.com :
BNP chief Khaleda Zia has moved the High Court to cross-examine five witnesses in the Zia Charitable Trust case after a petition to do so was turned down in the trial court.
The petition was submitted on Wednesday at the Supreme Court. The bench of Justices Md Shawkat Hossain and Md Nazrul Islam Talukder is expected to hear the petition on Sunday, said defence counsel Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan.
“There are a total of 36 witnesses in the case. Thirty-two of them have given their testimonies. We declined to cross-examine six of the witnesses … Later on we decided that they should be cross-examined,” he told the media.
On June 8, the defence moved to cross-examine the six witnesses in the trial court. The judge, however, only allowed cross-examining one of the witnesses, investigating officer Harun-ar Rashid.
Khaleda’s lawyers have questioned Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Director Rashid for the last three hearings. The cross-examining is yet to be finished and is scheduled to resume Thursday.
The Zia Charitable Trust graft case was filed by the ACC in 2010 against the BNP chief and three others for the embezzlement of Tk 31.5 million. The others accused are Khaleda’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, former BIWTA director Ziaul Islam Munna and former Dhaka City mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s personal assistant Monirul Islam Khan.
BNP chief Khaleda Zia has moved the High Court to cross-examine five witnesses in the Zia Charitable Trust case after a petition to do so was turned down in the trial court.
The petition was submitted on Wednesday at the Supreme Court. The bench of Justices Md Shawkat Hossain and Md Nazrul Islam Talukder is expected to hear the petition on Sunday, said defence counsel Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan.
“There are a total of 36 witnesses in the case. Thirty-two of them have given their testimonies. We declined to cross-examine six of the witnesses … Later on we decided that they should be cross-examined,” he told the media.
On June 8, the defence moved to cross-examine the six witnesses in the trial court. The judge, however, only allowed cross-examining one of the witnesses, investigating officer Harun-ar Rashid.
Khaleda’s lawyers have questioned Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Director Rashid for the last three hearings. The cross-examining is yet to be finished and is scheduled to resume Thursday.
The Zia Charitable Trust graft case was filed by the ACC in 2010 against the BNP chief and three others for the embezzlement of Tk 31.5 million. The others accused are Khaleda’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, former BIWTA director Ziaul Islam Munna and former Dhaka City mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s personal assistant Monirul Islam Khan.
