Khaleda likely to appear before court

BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia may appear before a Dhaka court on Wednesday in connection with two graft cases filed by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC). A counsel of Khaleda Zia has said that the former prime minister is likely to appear before the Special Judge's Court-3 at old part of Dhaka in the afternoon. The ACC, in July, 2009, filed Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda Zia, her elder son and BNP's senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman and four other people on charge of misappropriating more than Tk 20.1 million by forming what it said a "fake" trust. On the other hand, the anti-graft watchdog on August 8 in 2011 filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case against Khaleda and three other people for abusing power in setting up the charity. On February 16, The Judge of the Special Judge’s Court-3 asked Khaleda to appear before the court today (March 19) after fixing the date for the charge framing hearing in the cases against the former premier and eight others. So far, hearing of the two cases has been deferred 19 and 10 times respectively. Khaleda was absent from the court on several dates showing different reasons related to security, illness and parliament sessions, according to a news agency.