Judge transferred
The government yesterday transferred the judge, who had been dealing with two corruption cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and eight others, midway through the trial after she expressed no confidence in him.
The BNP chief filed two no-confidence petitions with the High Court in October, seeking orders on the government to transfer the cases from the Special Judge Court-3 of Dhaka that had Judge Bashudev Roy as its head.
Justice Bashudev has been transferred to the position of a special judge (district and sessions judge) in Patuakhali.
Following the transfer order, the hearing on the petitions scheduled for January need not be held, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star.
The court headed by Bashudev framed charges against Khaleda, her son and BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and seven others in Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases in March.
Judge Bashudev will be replaced by Md Abu Ahmed Jomadar, a district judge and joint secretary to the law ministry. A gazette notification was issued in this regard yesterday, according to a press release.
The two judges have been asked to join their new workplaces on December 22.
The transfers have been made as per Supreme Court's advice for ensuring transparency in the trial of the cases against Khaleda and others, said a law ministry high official, requesting anonymity.
She and her lawyers had been causing delay in the cases' proceedings for around one year, giving different excuses, he said.
She filed two writ petitions with the HC, challenging the legality of the appointment of Bashudev to the Special Judge Court-3 of Dhaka. The HC rejected her petitions and the Appellate Division upheld the HC orders.
Khaleda then sought transfer of the cases to another judge's court.
The transfer of Justice Bashudev will not hamper the cases' trial, the official said.
The attorney general said the no-confidence petitions became void following the transfer order. Judge Abu Ahmed will continue the trial proceedings from the point Judge Bashudev finished, he added.
On Wednesday, Judge Bashudev recorded depositions in the corruption cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, and fixed December 24 for further recording.
The anti-graft body filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case in 2009 against seven people in connection with embezzlement of over Tk 2.1 crore. The other case was filed in 2011 accusing Khaleda and three others of abusing power in setting up the charitable trust.
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