The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed two petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia against a High Court order issued in two corruption cases against her.
The five-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Mozammel Hossain passed the order.
On July 7, Khaleda filed the petitions seeking permission to appeal against a High Court verdict that rejected another petition challenging the appointment of Judge Basudev Roy, who was conducting the cases.
Khaleda’s lawyer Zainul Abedin said two more petitions were pending in the Appellate Division for hearing and hence there was no scope to proceed with the trial.
The prosecution said there was no bar to proceeding with the trial as the Supreme Court had dismissed the petitions.
At 9:48 am when Khaleda’s petitions were placed, the chief justice said: “dismissed”.
Barrister Jamir Uddin Sircar, AJ Mohammad Ali, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and Md Asadujjaman argued for Khaleda; Attorney General Mahbubey Alam, Additional Attorney General Murad Reza and Momtaz Uddin Fakir were in the prosecution.
Zainul Abedin said: “I think there are some important points to be stressed. After consulting with my client and senior lawyers, we might submit review petitions against the order.”
“She would seek adjournment of the hearing till September 17 as her two petitions challenging her indictment in the corruption cases are pending in the Appellate Division,” he added.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said: “There is no bar to running Khaleda’s trial and there is no stay order on her two other petitions.”
On May 12, Khaleda filed the writ petition challenging the legality of appointment of Basudev Roy, who framed charges against her and six others. On June 19, the High Court bench of Justice Kazi Razaul Huq rejected the petition.
On July 7, Khaleda filed two petitions with the Appellate Division challenging the rejection order. She also sought a stay order on the trial proceedings.
On August 8, 2011, the ACC filed Zia Charitable Trust graft case, accusing four people, including Khaleda, for abuse of power in raising funds for the trust. It filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008, against Khaleda, her elder son Tarique Rahman and four others for misappropriating over Tk2.10 crore foreign grants.
