The court fixed August 3 for the next hearing in Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases. Witness deposition and cross-examination of prosecution witness would resume on that day.
Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Thursday appeared before a court here to record her statements in connection with two graft cases in which she is accused of misappropriating more than Taka 8 crore. Zia, 69, reached the makeshift court set up at Bakshibazar some 20 minutes ahead of schedule and waited out inside her vehicle until the trial proceedings began, the Dailystar online reported.
The court fixed August 3 for the next hearing in Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases. Witness deposition and cross-examination of prosecution witness would resume on that day. Zia, the chief of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is being tried in the two cases for allegedly misappropriating more than Taka 8 crore. The BNP claims the cases are politically motivated, a charge the government denies.
According to the chargesheet of the Zia Orphanage case, the BNP chief, her elder son Tarique Rahman -- who now lives in London -- and four others embezzled Taka 2.1 crore during her tenure as prime minister from 2001-2006 by forming the charity that exists only on paper. The statement of the other case say Zia and three others abused power to collect Taka 6.19 crore for Zia Charitable Trust during the BNP-led government's 1991-'96 tenure.
Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed both the cases.
Zia has been irregular in attending the proceedings. She has refrained from appearing before the court on 56 out of 63 dates for hearing in the two cases, the report said.
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