BANGLADESH

A Dhaka special court will decide on Feb 14 whether it would take cognisance of the charges against BNP chief Khaleda Zia in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

On Sunday, judge Zahurul Haque of Dhaka's Senior Special Judge's Court Mohammad fixed the hearing.

On Jan 16, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) deputy director Harunur Rashid, also the plaintiff and investigation officer of the case, pressed charges against former prime minister Khaleda and three others.

The other accused in the case are Khaleda's former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his assistant private secretary (APS) Ziaul Islam (Munna) and former Dhaka mayor's APS Monirul Islam Khan.

After the current government took charge, this is for the first time a chargesheet has been submitted against the opposition leader.

ACC commissioner Muhammad Sahabuddin Chuppu had told on Jan 16 that 36 people were made witness in the case.

According to case details, a 42-kantha piece of land in the capital's Kakrail had been bought from Suraiya Khanam in January 2005 for Tk 65.2 million. The Zia Charitable Trust did not have any known source of income for around Tk 12.5 million – a sum that made up part of the payment for the land purchased in Dhaka.

The ACC submitted chargesheet said information of transactions worth more than Tk 31.5 million was found, apart from an amount given to the owner of the land. The money allegedly came from illegal sources.

In the event of a guilty verdict, said lawyer Aminul Gani Titu, experienced in criminal cases, the accused in such case can be sentenced up to seven years in jail and fined. The money they embezzled may also be seized, he added.

The BNP chief is currently on bail in the case. She submitted a High Court order that had granted her bail in the case to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on Jan 17.