The deputy director of the country’s graft watchdog found himself in the hot seat yesterday, as BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s lawyer subjected him to a lengthy cross-examination in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia stands accused along with eight others in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case and Zia Orphanage Trust case.
During the 90 minutes of questioning yesterday, defence counsel suggested that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was a ruling party lackey.
Khaleda’s counsel Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said the ACC had filed at least 15 cases against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before 2008, but they had all been scrapped after she came to power.
Under cross-examination, plaintiff Harun-or-Rashid, deputy director of the commission, denied the ACC acts according to the wishes of the party in power.
At one point, ACC lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol said, to date, the watchdog had never withdrawn a case against anyone. He also said that the cases the defence was alluding to were not relevant to the two graft cases under trial.
In response Khandaker Mahbub Hossain said: “The Commission withdrew some cases against Hasina but did not do that in the cases of Khaleda.”
The plaintiff’s unfinished cross-examination was yesterday fixed for August 3. On June 18, Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar of the Special Judge Court 3 fixed yesterday for the hearing in the two graft cases.
Khaleda Zia was present at the makeshift court set up in a parade ground of the Dhaka Central Jail Directorate in the capital’s Bakshibazar area. She reached the site of the court 20 minutes ahead of schedule and waited inside her vehicle until the proceedings started. She left the court around noon after the hearing was concluded.
When defence counsel asked the plaintiff if the Zia Charitable Trust graft case was filed for embezzlement of government money, ACC Deputy Director Harun-or-Rashid replied that the case was filed for collecting money illegally and spending it using the prime minister’s portfolio.
The plaintiff told the court that according to the trust deeds, the two sons of ex-president and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman were made trustees of the Zia Charitable Trust.
“One could only be a member of the trust by donating Tk5 lakh. The documents named several people as trustees. When we investigated the case, we did not find any trustees outside the Zia family. The other so-called trustees denied donating any money to the trust,” he said.
Khandaker Mahbub Hossain suggested that the donors concealed their donations from the investigator out of fear of harassment. The plaintiff flatly denied this possibility, saying: “It is not true.”
The corruption trials against Khaleda and eight others began on September 22 last year.
The ACC filed one graft case in 2008 against Khaleda and five others for embezzling over Tk2.1 crore by forming a “fake” Zia Orphanage Trust that existed only on paper.
The other accused are Khaleda’s son Tarique Rahman, Ziaur Rahman’s nephew Mominur Rahman, Khaleda’s former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former BNP lawmaker Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed.
The other case was filed by the anti-graft body in 2011 for abusing power in setting up the Zia Charitable Trust. The accused are Khaleda Zia, her former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his assistant private secretary Ziaul Islam Munna and former Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s assistant personal secretary Monirul Islam Khan.
