BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday lodged two separate pleas with the High Court for annulment of the lower court’s orders that indicted her in two corruption cases.
The bench of Justice Borhanuddin and Justice KM Kamrul Kader set April 16 for the hearing of the petitions filed under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
She also sought stay orders on the indictments until the disposal of the petitions, said Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Khaleda’s lawyer.
Khaleda claimed that the cases were filed only to harass her politically.
On March 19, Judge Basudev Roy of the Dhaka’s Third Special Judge’s Court passed the indictment order and also fixed April 21 for the start of the trials with depositions of prosecution witnesses.
The judge framed the charges against six people including Khaleda and Tarique in the Zia Orphanage Trust case for embezzling over Tk2.1 crore by forming the “fake” trust in 1991.
In the case of Zia Charitable Trust, four people including the BNP chief were indicted for raising funds by abusing the power of the PMO during 2001-06.
