Khaleda, Tarique asked to appear in court Aug 30

A Dhaka court yesterday asked former premier and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her son Tarique Rahman and four others to appear before it on August 30 in a case filed for embezzlement of Tk 2.10 crore by forming fraudulent Zia Orphanage Trust.
The court will give its decision on the same day whether the charges would be taken into cognisance against them in presence of the accused.
Judge ANM Bashir Ullah of Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court fixed the date after defence lawyers had submitted petitions seeking adjournment of the hearing on acceptance of the charges.
The other charge-sheeted are former BNP lawmaker Kazi Salimul Haque, Khaleda's nephew Mominur Rahman, Sharfuddin Ahmed, and former Principal Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui. Mominur and Kamal Uddin have been absconding.
Lawyers of Khaleda, Tarique and Sharfuddin submitted petitions to the court saying their clients were earlier granted bails from the High Court (HC) of different terms on different dates.
At one stage, the judge asked Khaleda and Tarique's lawyers why their clients did not appear before the court. The lawyers replied their clients were earlier granted bails from the HC for the next six months.
But the accused must appear before it on the scheduled date, even though they were on bail from the higher courts, the judge said.
Later, Khaleda's lawyers submitted another petition seeking adjournment of the hearing. In the petition, they mentioned that their client could not appear before it on security grounds and appealed to the court to ensure her security on her way to the court.
The lawyers also said Tarique had earlier gone abroad for his treatment and he was earlier granted bail in the case.
The court then fixed August 30 for hearing on the petition regarding Khaleda's security. Salimul was also granted bail in the case, but there was no step taken on his behalf.
On August 5, deputy assistant director of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Harunur Rashid, also the investigation officer of the embezzlement case, submitted the charge sheet to the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court showing 36 prosecution witnesses.
According to the case statement, then prime minister Khaleda Zia and the other accused embezzled over Tk 2.10 crore by establishing Zia Orphanage Trust that exists only on paper.
The complainant alleged that on June 9, 1991, a grant of $1,255,000, equivalent to about Tk 4.45 crore at the time, was transferred from United Saudi Commercial Bank to prime minister's orphanage fund--a fund that was created by the then premier shortly before the transfer--as part of the embezzlement scheme.