Khaleda asked to appear before court in graft case Sep 1

A Dhaka court today asked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to appear before it on September 1 to place her self-defence statement in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

Judge Abu Ahmed Jomadar of the Special Judge Court-3 came up with the order after Abdur Rezak Khan, a lawyer for Khaleda, submitted a petition seeking adjournment of the hearing.

In the petition, Rezak said defence lawyers on April 7 filed a leave to appeal petition with the Supreme Court challenging legality of an order of the High Court that cleared the way to run the trial proceedings of the case. 

The leave to appeal petition remains pending with the SC, Rezak said adding that his client Khaleda could not appear before it today due to her physical illness.

On the other hand, Mosharraf Hossain Kajol, public prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Commission, opposed the petition.

The ACC on August 8, 2011 filed the graft case accusing Khaleda and three others of abuse of power in setting up the charity.

The other accused are Harris Chowdhury, Khaleda's former political secretary, Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary (APS) of Harris, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS of former mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka. Of them, Harris is on the run.