Charge hearing deferred to Mar 19

A court in the city Sunday held back to March 19 the hearing on charge framing against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and others in the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases, reports UNB.
Judge M Rezaul Islam of the Special Judge Court-3 passed the order, despite the counsel for the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) opposed the time petition filed by the BNP chief, now on bail, as she fell sick.
The charge framing hearing in the two pending cases has so far been adjourned 50 times in the last two years, said ACC counsel Mosharraf Hossain Kajol.
Advocate Sanaullah Miah appeared for Khaleda Zia.
On August 8, 2011, the ACC filed the Zia Charitable Trust case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.
ACC deputy director Harunur Rashid, also investigation officer of the case, pressed charges against the accused on January 16, 2012.
A 42-katha land in the city's Kakrail area had been bought from a person, Suraiya Khanam, in January 2005 at Tk 65.2 million. The ACC found that Tk 12.5 million of the total money was earned beyond the known sources of income of the Zia Charitable Trust.
On January 15, 2013, Metropolitan Senior Special Judges' Court Mohammad Zahurul Haque took cognisance of the charges against the BNP chairperson and three others in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case and sent the case document to the Special Judge Court-3 for trial.