DHAKA: BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia is likely to appear before a Dhaka court on Thursday in both Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases.

The BNP chief’s lawyers’ panel member Advocate Sanaullah Miah confirmed the matter to banglanews on Wednesday.

Hearing of the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases are scheduled to be held on Thursday morning at the makeshift court setup in city’s Alia Madrasa playground.

On Thursday, three witnesses are to be cross-examined and next witness is to give deposition in the case.

With the deposition recording of the trio, seven witnesses gave the deposition in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case. And four witnesses were also cross-examined by defense lawyers.

The court also recorded deposition of three other witnesses of seized list on the case. They are Pubali Bank senior principal officer SM Ismail and Janata Bank (Saat Masjid Road branch) GM Sheikh Maqbul and Fahmida Rahman.

Zia Orphanage Case
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda, her eldest son Tarique Rahman and four others of misappropriating Tk over 2.10-crore, which came as grants from a foreign bank for orphans.

The other accused are former BNP lawmaker Kazi Saleemul Haque, businessperson Sharfuddin Ahmed, Khaleda’s former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui and Momenur Rahman.

Zia Charitable Trust Case
On August 8, 2011, ACC filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.

The other accused in the case are Harris Chowdhury, Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary (APS) to Harris, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS to Sadeque Hossain Khoka, mayor of the erstwhile Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).

BDST: 1338 HRS, SEP 09, 2015
RS/RR/SMS