Khaleda challenges indictment

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday challenged the indictment issued against her in Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases.
The Dhaka Special Judge's Court-3 framed charges against her on March 19 in both graft cases. It also charged Tarique Rahman, her son and senior vice-chairman of the party, in the Orphanage case.

The BNP chief filed two review petitions with the High Court through her lawyers, seeking cancellation of the indictment orders.
The former prime minister also prayed to the court to stay the orders, get records of the cases from the lower court and examine the charges.
The government had filed false and fabricated cases through the Anti-Corruption Commission only to politically harass and malign her and other accused, she said in the petitions.
The indictment orders were illegal, Khaleda said, because the judge had not asked her if she was guilty or innocent though he should have done so as per the Criminal Procedure Code.  
According to the CrPc, if a court frames charges against anyone, the charges shall be read and explained to the accused, and the accused shall be asked if he or she pleads guilty or not, Khaleda argued in the petitions.  
Her lawyers were not allowed to place arguments over her petitions seeking exemption from the charges at the lower court, she added.  
Khaleda also claimed that there was no corruption in establishing the trusts, and that she had not even signed any official document of the trusts.
AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, a counsel for Khaleda, told The Daily Star that the HC bench of Justice Borhanuddin and Justice KM Kamrul Kader might hold the hearing on the review petitions on Wednesday.
The graft watchdog in July 2009 filed the Zia Orphanage graft case against Khaleda, Tarique and four others and charged them with embezzling more than Tk 2.1 crore by forming the “fake” trust. It filed the Zia charitable graft case in August 2011, accusing Khaleda and three others of abusing power to set up the charity.