Zia Charitable Trust: Hearing postponed to Monday

A court has postponed the hearing in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case until Monday and extended the bail granted to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia until that date.

The Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-5 made the decision on Sunday based on a request by Khaleda’s lawyers.

The same court had sentenced the former prime minister to five years in jail over the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on Feb 8.

The fourth day of arguments in the Zia Charitable Trust case was set for Sunday, but Khaleda was unable to attend due to her incarceration.

At the start of Sunday’s hearing, Khaleda’s lawyer Sanaullah Mia said the High Court had agreed to hear the BNP chief’s petition for bail on Sunday afternoon and requested that the hearing be rescheduled to Monday and her bail in the case extended until then.

Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Mosharraf Hossain then said the court should order Khaleda Zia be brought to court on Monday.

Another member of Khaleda’s defence team, Abdul Rezak Khan, requested the court not to make such an order as they were waiting for the High Court bail hearing.

At the end of the hearing Judge Akhtaruzzaman extended the bail until Monday.

On Aug 8, 2010 the Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case against five BNP leaders, including Khaleda, accusing them of embezzling Tk 31.54 million from the Zia Charitable Trust case.

The charges were submitted on Jan 16, 2012 by the ACC investigating officer. On Mar 19, 2013 the suspects were indicted.

The others accused in the case are Khaleda’s former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his former personal assistant Ziaul Islam Munna, who is now the acting director (naval security and traffic) of BIWTA, and former Dhaka City mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s personal assistant Monirul Islam Khan.