The High Court has declared that the trial proceedings against BNP chief Khaleda Zia, in the Charitable Trust graft case, can proceed in her absence.
The bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice S M Kuddus Zaman passed the order on Sunday- after dismissing the revision petition filed by Khaleda’s lawyers.
On September 20, Dhaka Special Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman said the trial could proceed in the BNP chief’s absence—while she refused to appear in court. Later, her lawyers filed a petition challenging the decision.
On February 8, the Dhaka Special Court 5 convicted the former prime minister, and sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
She was then sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road, in the capital.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Zia Charitable Trust case at Tejgaon Police Station in August 2011. Khaleda, and three others, were accused of abusing power to raise funds from unknown sources for the trust.
The three other accused in the case are: Harris Chowdhury, political secretary of the then-prime minister Khaleda between 2001 and 2006; Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary to Harris; and Monirul Islam Khan, APS to former Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.
