HC stalls hearing of Khaleda's petitions in graft cases

The hearing of two petitions by BNP chief Khaleda Zia over the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases has been deferred by a week.

The High Court bench of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Md Khasruzzaman ordered the postponement on Thursday.

The petitions, asking for a change of judge and stay on the arrest warrant, will come up on the court’s cause list on Mar 12.

Additional Attorney General Md Mamtaz Uddin Fakir stood for the prosecution while Md Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti Corruption Commission.

The cases are being tried by Dhaka’s Third Special Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar.

Khaleda moved the High Court on Jan 28 with two no-confidence pleas against the judge which were presented for hearing last Sunday.

Earlier, she had challenged the validity of the appointment of the judge and his right to frame charges.

The High Court scrapped both of them. 

Dhaka’s Third Special Judges Court issued an arrest warrant for the BNP chief on Feb 25 after she failed to turn up in several consecutive hearings.

Her lawyers asked the High Court for a stay on the warrants on Tuesday.

It also asked the trial court for withdrawal of the warrant, but the court on Wednesday only included the pleas to the case documents.

The warrant stood valid.

Although the HC bench did not hear the pleas, the government and ACC raised two points.

They said that a specific bench is there to hear ACC cases in the High Court and the hearing should be held there.

They also said that as the arrest warrant has been issued, Khaleda is now a fugitive and does not have the right to ask for legal intervention.

“We have raised our points in court. The bench heard them. No hearing has been held on Khaleda Zia’s pleas. It would come up on the cause list next Thursday. We will see then if they would be heard here,” said Khurshid Alam later.

Mamtaz Uddin Fakir said, “The two petitions for change of judge are the key ones here. Since the cases in question are under the ACC act, they cannot be heard here. We told the court that the pleas are not acceptable as she is in hiding.

“But they also have two pleas for staying the warrant. If decision on postponing the judge is taken, then it would be easier to decide on the other two.”

In 2008, ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against six including Khaleda and her son Tarique.

It alleged that the defendants misappropriated Tk 21 million from funds meant for the trust, which reportedly came from a foreign bank.

In 2011, the anti-corruption watchdog prosecuted the BNP chief and three others for embezzlement of Tk 31.5 million of the Zia Charitable Trust.