High Court Defers Hearing on Khaleda Zia's Petitions in Graft Cases

The hearing on Bangladesh opposition leader Khaleda Zia's petitions seeking a change of judge and a stay on the arrest warrant against her in two graft cases involving over $650,000 was deferred today by a week.

The High Court bench of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Mohammad Khasruzzaman ordered the postponement of hearing on the two petitions by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief over the cases related to Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust by a week.

The petitions seeking a change of judge and stay on the arrest warrant will be taken up by the court on March 12, BD News reported.

The 69-year-old former premier moved the High Court on January 28 with two no-confidence pleas against the judge which were presented for hearing last Sunday.

Earlier, she had challenged the validity of the appointment of the judge and his right to frame charges. The High Court scrapped both of them.

Dhaka's Third Special Judges Court issued an arrest warrant for the BNP chief on February 25 after she failed to turn up in several consecutive hearings. Her lawyers asked the High Court for a stay on the warrants on Tuesday.

It also asked the trial court for withdrawal of the warrant but the court yesterday only included the pleas to the case documents.

"We have raised our points in court. The bench heard them. No hearing has been held on Khaleda Zia's pleas. It would come up on the cause list next Thursday. We will see then if they would be heard here," Mohammad Khurshid Alam Khan, lawyer of the Anti Corruption Commission said.

Additional Attorney General Mamtaz Uddin Fakir said, "The two petitions for change of judge are the key ones here. Since the cases in question are under the ACC act, they cannot be heard here. We told the court that the pleas are not acceptable as she is in hiding.

"But they also have two pleas for staying the warrant. If decision on postponing the judge is taken, then it would be easier to decide on the other two."

The BNP chief is accused of embezzling nearly USD 650,000 in the two corruption cases during her last term as prime minister from 2001 to 2006 and could be jailed for life if proved guilty.

Meanwhile, the High Court said it will deliver its verdict on March 10 on a petition filed by Zia seeking to scrap another pending corruption case related to awarding of a contract of a coal mine to a foreign company while she was in power from 2001 to 2006.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case in February 2008 accusing Khaleda and others of causing a loss of Taka 159 crore to the state exchequer by awarding a contract for operating the coalmine to a Chinese company by abusing power.