Awarding tough punishment to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case was absolutely necessary so that in future no one is encouraged to commit such a crime while holding the highest power of the state, a court has observed.
The Dhaka Special Judge Court 5 that sentenced Khaleda and three others in the case yesterday, said she had set a precedent by collecting funds illegally for a private trust using state power, which is unacceptable.
The court observed that being the state’s most powerful person at that time, Khaleda misused her power to collect funds from people for the trust, and spent the money for personal use.
“The prosecution has successfully proved when and how she collected fund for the trust, deposited the money and spent it,” the court said.
Khaleda Zia was then prime minister and chairperson of a major political party. Examining the accounts of witnesses it was proved that using prime minister’s power she collected funds for the trust named after her husband Ziaur Rahman, it observed.
The other accused, who also held important responsibilities assisted her to do that illegal act and thus they also should be awarded tougher punishment.
The court remarked that the trust was a private one and she used her former home, from which she discharged state duties and enjoyed government facilities, as its office address.
A private trust should have been operated by private funds and according to its deed, money from her party fund was not supposed to be transferred to the trust’s fund. But, Khaleda made arrangements to transfer Tk6.19 crore from the BNP fund to the trust’s account through pay orders by her former political secretary Harris Chowdhury.
Harris Chowdhury’s assistant private secretary Ziaul Islam Munna assisted in this act. He illegally pressurized bank officials to transfer party money to the trust’s bank account.
The lawyers of the BNP chairperson could not exhibit any proof that there was any decision from the party stakeholders to transfer the money. They also could not show any legal source of all of the money in the trust’s account, which means the money was actually collected illegally and was an example of abuse the power of prime minister, the court observed.