Defence foils hearing again
A prosecution witness in two corruption cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia failed to give his testimony in court for the third time yesterday due to clamour by the defence lawyers over rejection of four of their petitions.
Harun-ur-Rashid, deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), also complainant of the Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable trusts graft cases, appeared before the Special Judge Court-3 of Dhaka but the court was forced to adjourn recording his statement only 15 minutes later, said court sources.
Khaleda, his elder son Tarique Rahman, and seven others are accused in the two cases.
Submitting two adjournment petitions yesterday, Khaleda's lawyer Rafiqul Islam Miah said they had filed two petitions with the High Court for transfer of the cases to another trial court, as they “would not get justice” here.
But ACC lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol opposed the petitions, saying the HC had already dismissed Khaleda's all leave-to-appeal petitions, clearing the way for holding the trial.
After rejecting the two petitions, Judge Basudev Roy asked ACC official Harun to testify. At that time, Rafiqul came up with four petitions to reconsider his appeals but those were rejected too, and the defence lawyers created a pandemonium. At one point, the judge adjourned recording the statement and left the courtroom.
The court exempted Khaleda from appearance yesterday but passed an order stating that the BNP chief must appear before it on the next scheduled date, December 24, since she skipped the court on three consecutive dates, showing "security grounds".
Earlier, the court failed to record Harun's statement on December 1 and 8.
The other accused include former BNP lawmaker Kazi Saleemul Haque Kamal, and its leader Harris Chowdhury, now absconding.
The ACC filed the Orphanage Trust graft case in 2009 for embezzlement of over Tk 2.1 crore by forming the “fake” trust, which existed only on paper. It filed the other case in 2011 for abuse of power in creating the Charitable Trust.
Both the charities were founded during BNP's 2001-2006 tenure.
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