The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday rejected two leave to appeals filed by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia against the High Court verdict upholding the orders of the trial court in two graft cases. The full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain, passed the order. The Appellate Division fixed the date for order after concluding the hearing on both the leave to appeals on Sunday. Advocate Jainul Abedin and Advocate AJ Mohammad Ali appeared for Khaleda Zia in the day’s hearing, while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the government. Earlier, on October 14, Khaleda Zia filed the leave to appeal petitions with the Supreme Court against the High Court order that rejected her petitions against the two graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). On August 8, 2011, the ACC filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources. Besides, the ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda Zia, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, now living in the UK after securing bail, and four others of misappropriating over Tk 2.10 crore that came as grants for orphans from a foreign bank. Meanwhile, on March 19 this year, the Special Judge’s Court-3 of Dhaka framed charges against the BNP chairperson, her eldest son Tarique Rahman and seven others in the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases. —UNB, Dhaka.
