Zia Orphanage Trust graft case: HC accepts Khaleda’s appeal to shift court

The High Court once again accepted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s appeal to shift court to hold trial in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. A High Court bench of Justice Md Shawkat Hossain and Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder passed the order on Sunday. Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) counsel Khurshid Alam Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that the court also rejected Khaleda's other petition seeking a stay order on the trial proceedings of the case. The bench, however, did not specify which court will deal with the case now. “The High Court will announce it later,” the counsel said. Its previous order to finish the trial proceedings within 60 days will be in effect, said court sources. On March 8, the High Court had shifted the case to Dhaka’s Senior Metropolitan Special Sessions Judge’s Court from Special Judge’s Court 3 of Dhaka upon the BNP chief’s petition. On April 26, Khaleda moved a fresh petition with the High Court again to shift the case from that court to another. The Senior Metropolitan Special Sessions Judge’s Court was supposed to record Khaleda's self-defence statement in the case on Monday after she lodged a no confidence petition against its Judge Kamrul Hossain Mollah on April 13. The former prime minister and her eldest son Tarique Rahman and four others stand accused of embezzling Tk2.1 crore from the orphanage trust fund. The ACC filed the case against them in 2008.