Khaleda reaches court

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia arrived in a Dhaka court on Wednesday to attend hearings aimed at framing charges against her in two graft cases.

She reached the court premises in Old Dhaka around 1pm.

The former prime minister started from her Gulshan residence around 11.30am, her Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told bdnews24.com.

The court of Dhaka’s Special Judge-3 Basudev Roy will hear the framing of charges in the two cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Security has been beefed up in and around the court premises since Wednesday morning.

Khaleda last appeared in court on Jan 15 last year when the ACC submitted chargesheet in one of the cases against hear.

The former Leader of the Opposition sought time on 41 occasions in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and 11 times in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

On Feb 16, the court issued an ultimatum to Khaleda ordering her to appear before it on Mar 19 or else face arrest.

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

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

Chargesheet against the six was submitted in 2010.

In 2011, the corruption watchdog sued the BNP chief and three others for pocketing Tk 31.5 million of the Zia Charity Trust.

It filed the chargesheet against the four in 2012.