Khaleda’s case proceeding adjourned till Feb 25 for SSC exams

A Dhaka Court today adjourned the proceeding of Zia Charitable Trust corruption case until February 25 to ease traffic movement in Dhaka city during SSC examinations.

The Special Court-5 adjourned the proceedings of the case following prosecution’s plea for smooth vehicular movement during the ongoing SSC examinations in the city, Mosharraf Hossain Kajal, the public prosecutor of the case, told The Daily Star.

Before the adjournment, Judge Md Akhteruzzaman recorded arguments of Aminul Islam, defence counsel for accused Ziaul Islam Munna, who claimed the case a “baseless one”.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, one of the accused of the case, also appeared before the court at 11:25 am and left the court around 1:30 pm after the end of today’s proceeding.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case in August 2011 with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four persons including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia of abusing power to raise funds for the trust from unknown sources.

The three other accused are Harris Chowdhury, Khaleda's political secretary when she was in power between 2001 and 2006, Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary to Harris, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS of former Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.

Of them, Harris is on the run.

Earlier on Tuesday, Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajal completed the closing arguments and sought the highest punishment of seven years' imprisonment for the accused.