Bangladesh Supreme Court on Sunday rejected the petitions of opposition leader Khaleda Zia, who challenged the legality of the appointment of a lower court judge who indicted her in two graft cases, paving the way for her trial on corruption charges.
Zia, 69, a two times former Prime Minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), went to the court to seek a suspension of the proceedings, claiming that the judge who has been hearing her cases was appointed illegally.
But a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain dismissed her appeals, allowing the trials to go ahead in a special court that deals with graft cases, bdnews24 reported. On March 19, the court of Dhaka’s Third Metropolitan Sessions Judge Basudeb Roy framed charges against eight including Khaleda and her elder son Tarique Rahman in the two cases accusing them of embezzling Tk 53 million (USD 6,77,000).
Khaleda, on May 12, challenged the legality of the appointment of Roy. She also sought a stay on the case proceedings.