Court scraps Khaleda plea to cancel plaintiff’s deposition in graft cases

A Dhaka court has turned down a petition by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s defence to scrap testimonies by the plaintiff of Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases.

Court Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 25 May 2015, 09:17 AM
Updated : 25 May 2015, 09:17 AM

However, the third Special Judge’s Court on Monday did accept their plea for more time to prepare for hearings and set the next date for June 18.

Khaleda was present at court when the Judge Abu Ahmed Jamaddar gave the orders. She arrived at court a little before 11am amidst tight security for the hearing.

ACC Director Harun-Ur-Rashid, the plaintiff of both cases, gave his deposition at court on Monday in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

He has already given his deposition on the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and is being questioned by the lawyers.

However, Khaleda’s counsels did not grill him for any of the cases, in which he is allegedly involved for siphoning Tk 52.5 million funds.

Khaleda also did not speak to anyone and said she was well after the hearing ended.

Her lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder said they moved the court with two pleas.

One of them asked for scrapping of the plaintiff’s testimonies since Khaleda was not in court to hear them since she skipped a number of hearings.

The other was on behalf of her lawyers which asked for more time to prepare for the hearings as they were busy with the bar council elections.

ACC lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajal contested the pleas at court.

The judge scrapped the first plea straight away saying there was no scope to cancel the plaintiffs deposition.

He however saw merit in the plea for more time and said, “Being busy with the polls is justified. Time can be given for preparing for the case. However, I will not give time so that you can go to the High Court.”

The court had earlier issued a warrant for Khaleda’s arrest after she did not turn up for a number of consecutive hearings in the two graft cases.

Khaleda was in her office for three months just after calling for a countrywide indefinite blockade from Jan 5.

She went straight to court on Apr 5 and from there, returned home after getting bail in the two cases.

However, she skipped the next hearing on May 5 also and the court ordered her lawyer to produce her in court on Monday.