DHAKA, Oct 28, 2018 (BSS) – Attorney General Mahbubey Alam today said the lower court concerned would pronounce verdict in Zia Charitable Trust graft case provided the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court rejected BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s plea in this regard.
“Dhaka Special Judge Court-5 will be able to deliver the verdict if the Appellate Division rejected her plea against the lower court order to continue the proceedings of the case in her absence,” the chief state counsel said.
Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-5 on October 16 set tomorrow to pronounce judgement in the case as the defence repeatedly refrained from taking part in the hearing on arguments in the case.
“Khaleda Zia took time for around 40 times during the hearing of the case. She didn’t appear before the court citing her confinement in another case, even refrained from appearing before court over health reason. One day she informed the court that she will not appear before it anymore. The court at that stage had to set date to hear arguments in her absence. But none from her 126-member strong defence team appeared before the court also, making the court to set date for pronounce judgment,” Advocate Alam said.
“Khaleda’s counsels repeatedly wasted time of the court by filing time plea. They do not take part in any kind of legal proceedings but plead for bail whenever the bail period gets finished,” Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) counsel Mosharraf Hossain Kazal said earlier.
On October 14, the High Court rejected a revision plea filed by BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, upholding a lower court order that had said it would continue the graft case proceedings in her absence.
The lower court on September 20 passed the order, saying it would hold hearing of the case in Khaleda’s absence as she was “unwilling” to appear at the makeshift court complex inside the Old Dhaka Central Jail.
The ACC filed the case with capital’s Tejgaon Police Station on August 8, 2010, for embezzling Taka 3.15 crore while police on January 16, 2012, filed chargesheet against four including the ex-premier.
The other accused are Khaleda’s former political secretary Haris Chowdhury, the then BIWTA director Ziaul Islam Munna and Monirul Islam Khan, former personal secretary of former Dhaka city mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka.
The court framed charges against Khaleda and others in the case on March 19, 2014.
The BNP chairperson is now serving a five-year jail term in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.