Dhaka, Sept 5 – The trial proceedings of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in Zia Charitable Trust graft case began around 12:15 pm while the judge reached the court at 11.07am yesterday Wednesday at a makeshift court set up inside the old central jail of Dhaka on Nazimuddin Road in absence of her lawyers. Meanwhile, some women security personnel took Khaleda Zia to the makeshift court in a wheelchair at 12.13 pm. She was wearing a light-indigo coloured saree and black spectacles. She was seating on the wheelchair during the whole period of the court hearing.
On the occasion, Khaleda Zia informed the court about her illness. She said, ‘I am sick. I won’t appear here frequently. My left foot and hand have almost been paralysed. Here is the medical report. You can keep an eye on the report. How much I am ill can be verified by the report.’ “This court has been set up here to punish. There is no justice. The trial is being done at will, she added. There is nothing like fair-play. Injustice is being done. One cannot speak here.”
The BNP Chief entered the court on a wheelchair and told the court, “Punish me as much as you want, punish me as long as you want.” She further said, “I can’t move my left hand. I can’t stand even.”
“The date for today’s hearing was actually fixed earlier. But the Gazette was issued one day before rapidly. My senior lawyers did not come to this court. If I would know, I would not come,” Khaleda Zia added.
The former Prime Minister said this after appearing before Special Judge Court-5 in connection with Zia Charitable Trust graft case.
The special court was shifted to the old central jail on Nazimuddin Road in Old Dhaka on the day before by a gazette notification.
Later, Judge Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Special Court fixed the next date for hearing: September 12 and 13. The day’s proceedings of the court ended at 12.39 pm. The court heard the submissions of the prosecution and defence. Dhaka Bar Association’s Golam Mostafa Khan was present on the occasion and spoke briefly on behalf of Khaleda Zia.
Earlier in the day, security measures were beefed up in and around Old Dhaka central jail area in Nazimuddin Road over setting up a makeshift court there for the trial of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Charitable Trust graft case. Additional police were deployed in the area.
Earlier, the Law Ministry issued a gazette on Tuesday, saying the proceedings in the Zia Charitable Trust case would now be held at the old Dhaka central jail on Nazimuddin Road. The decision was made taking Khaleda Zia’s security into consideration.
On August 8, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission, ACC filed the case against the BNP Chief and three others for embezzling Tk 3.15 crore from the Zia Charitable Trust Fund.
Other accused persons in the case are Khaleda Zia former Political Secretary Harris Chowdhury, his former personal assistant Ziaul Islam Munna and former Dhaka City Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s personal assistant Monirul Islam Khan.
The makeshift special court for the trial was set up in the old central jail where the BNP Chief has been imprisoned instead of Government Ali Madrasa in the capital’s Bakshibazar. Khaledda Zia’s lawyers termed the move as ‘contrary to law’.
On February 8, BNP leader was imprisoned for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and sent her to the old central jail on Nazimuddin Road. Judge Dr Akhteruzzaman of Dhaka’s Fifth Special Judge’s court delivered the verdict in the graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission during the last army-backed caretaker Government in 2008. – Special Correspondent
