A Dhaka court on Sunday noon has deferred the deposition hearing of Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia till November 24. Judge Bashudev Roy of the special Judge Court-3 passed the order after Khaleda Zia’s lawyers submitted two separate time petitions before the court. Earlier in the day, the BNP chief left her Gulshan residence at around 10:20am and reached the makeshift court set up at Bakshi Bazar at around 11:00am on Sunday. On October 26, Bashudev Roy of the Special Judge`s Court-3 of Dhaka asked Khaleda and others, accused in the cases, to appear before it today (Sunday, November 9) for taking depositions from witnesses in connection with the graft cases. Khaleda skipped the hearing on October 13, October 26 and September 22 citing security reasons. The last time she appeared before the court for hearing on the cases was on September 17. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had filed the two cases in 2008 and 2011. According to the charge sheet of one of the cases, Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique Rahman and four others embezzled Tk 2.1 crore by forming the charity that exists only on paper.
