High Court rejects Khaleda Zia’s petition for fresh plaintiff testimonies in graft cases

The High Court has rejected BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s petition seeking fresh plaintiff testimonies in the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases.

The bench of Justices Md Moinul Islam Chowdhury and JBM Hassan gave its decision on the plea on Monday.

The graft cases against the former prime minister is being held at Dhaka’s Third Special Judge’s Court, which has already recorded testimony of the plaintiff in one of the cases filed by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).

The court heard the plaintiff’s testimony in absence of Khaleda Zia as she had skipped several hearings.

On May 25, the court rejected a plea by Khaleda’s lawyers to scrap the testimony and set Jun 18 for the next hearing. The BNP chief’s lawyers moved the High Court against the trial court’s order.

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

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 in another case accused the BNP chief and three others of embezzling Tk 31.5 million of the Zia Charitable Trust.