The Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-3 on Thursday set September 17 for the next hearing in two grafts cases against Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia. The judge of the court, Abu Ahmed Jamadar posted for September 17 the next hearing in the cases after recording testimonies of the eighth prosecution witness and cross examining the fifth and seventh witnesses in Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases. Khaleda’s counsels requested the judge to set the date for next hearing after Eid ul-Azha but judge Abu Taher said it would not possible for legal bindings. The former prime minister arrived in the court premises around 10:50am. Security has been beefed up in and outside the courtroom. Khaleda did not appear before the court in the trial of the cases on three dates – on August 10, August 27 and September 3 – because of illness, her lawyers said. On September 3, three prosecution witnesses gave testimonies against Khaleda and three other accused in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case. In the Zia Orphanage Trust case, Khaleda, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, Ziaur Rahman’s nephew Mominur Rahman, Khaleda’s former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former BNP lawmaker Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed were charged with misappropriation of about Tk 2.11 crore after withdrawal of the money from the trust fund between November 13, 1993 and March 28, 2007. In the other case, Khaleda, her former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his assistant private secretary Ziaul Islam Munna, and former Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain’s assistant personal secretary Monirul Islam Khan were charged with collecting about Tk 3.15 crore illegally in the name of Zia Charitable Trust and subsequently withdrawing the money from the fund in an attempt to misappropriate it.
Source: New Age