ZIA Charitable Trust

Khaleda faces graft charges

May go to court today to submit bail bond

16 January 2012, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday pressed charges against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and three others, accusing them of abusing power in collusion with each other for setting up a charitable trust named after late president Ziaur Rahman. ACC Assistant Director Harunur Rashid, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka hours after the commission approved its submission around noon. Main opposition leader Khaleda, who is also the widow of Zia, is scheduled to go to the CMM court today for submitting a bail bond. On December 8 last year she got bail for eight weeks in the case from the High Court. In mutual collaboration the accused four realised over Tk 2.17 crore from unknown sources for establishing Shaheed Zia Charitable Trust, according to the charge sheet which also points out irregularities in spending another amount of over Tk 1.24 crore in the process of purchasing a land in the name of the trust, ACC Chairman Ghulam Rahman explained to The Daily Star. According to the first information report (FIR), in a week starting from January 13, 2005, Tk 7.81 crore was deposited in the trust's bank account, but the money was not used for any charitable purpose, and even the purchased land was not mutated in the trust's name at the time of filing the case. But according to the charge sheet, the deposited amount could be higher. "The commission has approved submission of charge sheet in the case as investigation has proved the charges brought against the accused," Ghulam Rahman told reporters in his office yesterday. The other accused in the case are Abul Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to the then prime minister Khaleda Zia; his assistant personal secretary (APS) Ziaul Islam Munna; and Monirul Islam Khan, APS to former Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka. The corruption watchdog filed the case on August 8 last year with Tejgaon Police Station. In the three years since the incumbent government assumed power, this is the only case the ACC filed against the opposition leader. This is also the only case in which charge has been pressed against Khaleda since the Awami League-led government took over. The FIR alleges that the money for the trust was collected from different sources using the influence of the then Prime Minister's Office. Khaleda, as the first managing trustee, opened the account with the PMO branch of Sonali Bank on January 1, 2005, and within a week from January 13 Tk 7.81 crore was deposited in the account in phases, says the FIR. Of the trust fund, Tk 6.19 crore came from BNP, and the rest from unknown sources. On January 16, 2005, Tk 1.35 crore was deposited in the trust's account through five pay orders issued by a business firm Metro Makers and Developers Ltd, according to the FIR. But according to the charge sheet, Tk 1.9 crore was deposited in the name of Metro Makers and Developers Ltd. Investigators could not find any source of the money, which was taken to the bank in sacks by Khoka's APS Monirul, who then called officials from Metro Makers, and ordered them to deposit the money in the name of their company through pay orders, ACC sources said. AFM Jahangir, managing director of Metro Makers and Developers Ltd, told the ACC investigators that the company never donated any money to the trust. He said the then DCC mayor's APS Monirul Islam used the company's name to deposit the money. Monirul, however, claimed to investigators that Harris Chowdhury had given him the money for depositing in the account. Then on January 18, 2005, Harris's APS Ziaul Islam deposited more than Tk 27 lakh. The investigators also could not find out from where Ziaul received the money. Ziaul, however, claimed to the investigators that he deposited the money in the trust's account on instruction from Harris. Cheques for Tk 6.19 crore that came from different BNP accounts bore signatures of Tarique Rahman, Khaleda's elder son; and former BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, among others. "Though the trust was established for charitable purposes, there's no evidence of charitable activity done with the fund," reads the FIR. "Rather, Khaleda purchased a land with the money from the trust," the FIR adds. A 42-katha land was bought from one Suraiya Khan for Tk 6.53 crore from the trust's account. The land registered on January 19, 2005, has yet to be mutated in the trust's name. The money was transferred to Suraiya's account through two cheques signed by Khaleda. Suraiya was also paid another amount of over Tk 1.24 crore, the FIR says. Investigators found irregularities in that payment as well, as the reason for the payment could not be known clearly.