Bangla court turns down Zia’s plea to cancel deposition in graft cases

A Bangladeshi court on Monday turned down a plea by BNP chief and ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia to scrap the testimony of a plaintiff in two graft cases against her but gave time to her lawyers to cross-examine the complainant.

“There is no scope to cancel the plaintiff’s deposition,” said Judge Abu Ahmed Jamaddar of Dhaka’s Third Special Court as Zia’s lawyers submitted the appeal while she was seated on the dock. The counsels of Zia, 69, filed the petition seeking to scrap the testimony of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) official who earlier filed a case as the plaintiff accused her of graft charges involving two charities named after her slain husband and Bangladesh president Ziaur Rahman.

“The judge rejected the petition but accepted their (Zia’s lawyers)petition seeking more time to prepare themselves to <g data-gr-id="21">cross examine</g> the complainant, fixing a new date of hearing on June 18,” prosecution lawyers Mosharaf Hossain Kajol told PTI.

He added that complainant of the graft charges, ACC deputy director Harunur Rashid, will be cross-examined by defence lawyers.

Zia’s chief counsel Khondker Mahbubuddin Ahmed, however, told newsmen that they might move to the High Court seeking to scrap Rashid’s testimony as it was recorded in Zia’s absence in the court.

This was her second appearance in the court in seven weeks as she is being tried on two graft charges in which she was accused of misappropriating an amount of Taka 52.5 million involving Zia Orphanage Trust graft and Charitable Trust.