A Dhaka court has started recording witnesses in the graft case against Khaleda Zia in her absence on Monday. Earlier, the court of Dhaka’s Third Metropolitan Sessions Judge Basudeb Roy rejected the defence counsels’ plea to defer recording witnesses in the case filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC). Khaleda’s lawyers had filed a petition expressing no-confidence on the judge. The court heard partial testimony of the plaintiff, ACC deputy director Harun Or Rahsid on Monday and have set Oct 13 for the next day for hearing. Trial of the ‘Zia Orphanage Trust’ and ‘Zia Charitable Trust’ graft cases are being held at Dhaka’s Third Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court set up at the Aliya Madrasa in Bakshibazar area. Khaleda Zia requested for deferring them on grounds that she could not be able to appear in court on Monday amid the BNP-led alliance’s countrywide strike. Her lawyer Taherul Islam Towhid said that they had also filed a petition that would exempt Khaleda from personal appearence during the deposition . The court rejected the plea for deferment and wanted to start recording of witnesses on Monday when pro-BNP lawyers raised a furore in the courtroom. ACC lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol pleaded before the court to declare the BNP chief as absconding and start the hearing. The court later approved Khaleda’s plea which exempted her to appear in person and ordered starting recording of witnesses. In his testimony, the plaintiff provided the initial background of the case after which the judge left for his chamber. A new date for recording witness was announced later. Defence counsels said the order over their petition expressing no-confidence on the judge is pending. On Mar 19, charges were framed against eight including Khaleda and her elder son Tarique Rahman in the two cases accusing them of embezzlement. Khaleda, on May 12, challenged the legality of the appointment of Judge Basudeb Roy. She also sought a stay on the case proceedings. On May 25, the High Court bench of Justices Farah Mahbub and Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo delivered a split verdict on the plea regarding the legality of the judge’s appointment. Earlier the former prime minister had moved the High Court challenging the indictment but it dismissed her plea. Justice Farah Mahbub issued a ruling and ordered a freeze on the proceedings in the cases, while Justice Kazi Md Ejarul Haque Akondo wanted to scrap the petitions. As per rule, the matter was forwarded to the chief justice who assigned Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque’s bench to hear the petitions. The bench also dismissed the petitions on June 19. Khaleda then filed two petitions to the Appellate Division against the dismissal. The Anti-Corruption Commission in 2008 filed a case against six, including Khaleda and her son Tarique Rahman, for allegedly siphoning off Tk 21 million from the ‘Zia Orphanage Trust’ funds, which reportedly came from a foreign bank. Charges were pressed against them two years later. In 2011, the ACC accused the BNP chief and three others of misappropriating Tk 31.5 million from the ‘Zia Charitable Trust’. The national anti-graft agency started prosecution against the four by submitting a charge-sheet against them in 2012. — bdnews24.com
