The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday said the Special Judge’s Court 3 in Dhaka framed charges in two corruption cases against BNP chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia, her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, and seven others following legal procedures.
“A section of the media has been reporting misleading news in the past few days,” Kamrul Hossain Molla, director general of the commission’s legal wing, told reporters yesterday at the ACC media centre in Segunbagicha.
The anti-corruption body held the press briefing a day after Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a platform of pro-BNP lawyers, made an appeal to the chief justice to initiate an inquiry against a lower court judge for allegedly violating the law while framing charges against Khaleda and eight others.
The court on Wednesday indicted the nine accused in the Zia Orphanage Trust case for embezzling over Tk2 crore by forming a “fake” trust in 1991, and in the Zia Charitable Trust case for raising funds by abusing power of the Prime Minister’s Office during BNP’s 2001-06 tenure.
Mosharraf Hossain Kajol, an ACC panel lawyer representing the prosecution side, said some people were trying to create confusion over the court order.
“The court framed charges against the accused after hearing both sides, and the court also asked Khaleda about her involvement,” Mosharraf said.
Rafiqul Islam Miah, Khaleda’s lawyer, had earlier claimed that due process was not followed as the judge framed the charges in his chamber, although Khaleda was present in the court. The judge’s assistant later announced the indictment in the courtroom.
Mosharraf also alleged that the accused were trying to delay the trial process as their lawyers had previously sought adjournments from the court 33 times.
