Court to hear Khaleda’s arguments Wednesday

A Dhaka court will now hear arguments from BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, as the judge heard the state.

Judge Md Akhteruzzaman of Dhaka’s Fifth Special Court will hear the arguments by the former prime minister on Wednesday.

The final verdict will follow once the court finishes hearing arguments of both parties in the nine-year-old case.

The Anti-Corruption Commission or ACC started the case in 2008 accusing Khaleda and five others of embezzling Tk 21 million from foreign aid collected for the Zia Orphanage Trust.

The court started the trial in 2014, around five years after the investigator submitted the charges.

Khaleda, the prime suspect of the case, reached the special court set up at Dhaka’s Bakshibazar at 11am Tuesday. ACC’s lawyer Mosharrof Hossain Kajal argued for the state.

“Instead of using the foreign aid for the welfare of orphans, the accused transferred and transformed them. They kept accumulating the money abroad over years,” he said.

The defence had been unable to refute the testimonies of 32 witnesses, he claimed.

The BNP chairperson has so far defended herself seven times in the case.

Of the other defendants, former MP Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed are out on bail while on Jan 26 this year, a warrant was issued for Tarique, who has been in the UK for the last nine years and has warrants on him in several others cases.

The two others accused in the case --- former principal secretary to the PM Kamal Uddin Siddique and one Maminur Rahman, nephew of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, are absconding.

bdnews24.com/GY