Arrest warrant issued against Khaleda Zia in graft cases

A Dhaka court has issued an arrest warrant against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases. Judge Md Akhteruzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court 5 gave the order on Thursday, rejecting the time petitions filed by the BNP chief’s lawyers. Khaleda’s lawyers Mohammad Sanaullah Mia and Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon filed two separate petitions with the court. In the petitions, they said Khaleda Zia could not appear before the court due to a six-hour hartal enforced by the leftist parties and security reasons. The lawyers also said she will appear before the court at 2pm. On August 8, 2011, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Charitable Trust case with Tejgaon police station, accusing Khaleda and three others of abusing power in raising funds and misappropriating Tk3.15 crore. Before that, on July 3, 2008, the ACC had filed the Orphanage Trust case with Ramna police station, accusing Khaleda, her son Tarique Rahman and four others of embezzling over Tk 2.10 crore.