The High Court yesterday began the hearings of the petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for scrapping the lower court’s orders that indicted her in two corruption cases.
The bench of Justice Borhanuddin and Justice KM Kamrul Kader will also hear the pleas filed under the Code of Criminal Procedure, today.
Khaleda’s lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain told the bench that the charges were not framed in line with the CrPC while attorney general Mahbubey Alam said the lower court specifically mentioned what offences she had been accused of.
In her petition, Khaleda sought stay orders on the indictments until the disposal of the petitions and also claimed that the cases were filed only to harass her politically.
On March 19, Judge Basudev Roy of the Dhaka Third Special Judge’s Court passed the indictment and also fixed April 21 for the start of the trial with depositions of prosecution witnesses.
The judge framed the charges against six individuals including Khaleda and her son 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 Prime Minister’s Office during 2001-2006.
