Deposition recording of the complain against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases were adjourned till December 17.
The Judge of Special Judge Court-3 Basudev Roy was forced to adjourn the hearing yesterday, after the recording of deposition from the compliant had to be stopped within seven minutes from starting due to chaos instigated by defense counsels.
The court rejected six adjournment petitions submitted by Khaleda’s lawyers as the day’s proceedings started. The court however, granted Khaleda’s non-appearance petition in which said she could not appear before the court due to security concerns.
After rejecting the petitions, the court asked the plaintiff, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission Harun-ur-Rashid, to give his deposition.
Before he could start, Khaleda’s lawyers submitted two separate petitions for the reconsideration of the previous adjournment appeals. A chaotic situation ensued over the appeals as the recording went through.
Harun could speak for barely more than five minutes before the court had no choice but adjourn the hearing.
In previous hearings, the court had rejected four petitions filed by Khaleda seeking time for recording deposition on December 1 and on October 13. On September 22, the court began proceedings of the cases in absence of the BNP chief, and recorded a partial statement of the complainant.
The BNP chairperson had also skipped appearing in the court on December 1 by citing the same reasons.
After recording the statement for around a quarter of an hour, the judge was forced to postpone the hearing till December 8 due to uproar created by defense lawyers.
On 2009, the Anti Corruption Commission filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case for embezzlement of over Tk 2.1 crore by forming a “fake” trust which existed only on paper.
The anti-graft watchdog filed Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in 2011 accusing four people, including Khaleda, for abusing power in setting up the charitable trust.
