A court on Sunday rejected two petitions of Bangladesh’s embattled former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia who appeared before it in a graft case which accuses her of embezzling over USD four lakh from a trust, saying there is “no ground” to re-examine the investigating officer.
Dhaka’s Third Special Judge’s Court deferred 70-year-old opposition leader Zia’s hearing and fixed April 25 to hear her statement over graft charges brought against her in the Zia Charitable Trust case which accuses her of embezzling 31.5 million Bangladeshi Taka (USD 4 lakh).
The court was scheduled to record her deposition on Sunday, but the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Zia’s lawyers petitioned for a fresh testimony of the investigating officer, which the court turned down.
The BNP chairperson’s counsel then appealed for a fresh cross-examination of the investigating officer, which was also dismissed. The court rejected the petition on re-examining the investigating officer as it found “no ground”, The Daily Star reported.
There was a heated argument between the prosecution and the defence when Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar deferred recording Zia’s statement and fixed April 25 to hear it.