BNP chief Khaleda Zia accuses govt of trying to portray her as ineligible for polls

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has defended herself in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and said the government is trying to portray her as ineligible for contesting the national polls.

“Their ministers are saying that I will be convicted and kept at Kashimpur jail. I fear that I may not get justice,” she said at Dhaka’s fifth special judge’s court at Bakshibazar on Thursday.

The court heard Khaleda’s statements for the third day. Citing tiredness and illness, the former prime minister sought another date to finish her statement.

Judge Md Akhteruzzaman granted Khaleda’s plea and set the next hearing for Nov 9. The court will hear another graft case against Khaleda involving Zia Charitable Trust on the same day.

“She (Khaleda) said that ministers and leaders of the ruling party were threatening her that she would be removed of the political scene,” said Khaleda’s Counsel Nuruzzaman Tapan.

The court started hearing Khaleda’s statement on Oct 19 when the BNP chief said funds for the Zia Orphanage Trust were safe in the bank account.

On the second day, she termed the case “fabricated and politically motivated.”

On Thursday, the court turned down Khaleda’s plea for permanent bail and granted her bail until Nov 9.

Alluding to the state of emergency declared in 2007, the BNP chairperson said: “Both of us were prosecuted at that time.

“But with the use of some kind of magic wand, the government seems to have dismissed all the cases against the prime minister and those against me are skyrocketing.”

The Zia Orphanage Trust graft case was filed in 2008. The ACC case accused Khaleda, her son Tarique Rahman and four others of embezzling Tk 21 million that arrived as donation for the Zia Orphanage Trust.

Khaleda was shown arrested in the case during the tenure of army-backed caretaker government.

 “I am not done today; I will speak more on the next day. Now I am tired and ill,” said Khaleda.

The ACC submitted charges in the case in 2009. Khaleda and five other accused were indicted in Dhaka’s Third Special Judge Basudeb Roy’s court in 2014.