The deposition of witnesses' in the two graft cases against BNP Chairperson and former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia was deferred once again today.
The court of Dhaka's Third Metropolitan Sessions Judge Basudeb Roy set September 17 as the new date to record testimonies after the defence counsel pleaded for more time.
Earlier on September 3, the court had decided to record the testimonies of witnesses on September 10, which was attended by Zia herself, bdnews reported.
The depositions in the 'Zia Orphanage Trust' and 'Zia Charitable Trust' graft cases filed by the Anti Corruption Commission have been deferred as two pleas by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief over the cases are yet to be resolved at the Appellate Division.
Earlier on July 27, the same court had deferred the deposition of witnesses in the two cases as Zia (69) did not attend the hearing.
On March 19, charges were framed against Zia, her son Tarique Rahman and eight others for embezzlement of funds worth more than USD 1 million.
While six including Zia and Tarique were indicted on graft charge relating to Zia Orphanage Trust, four including Zia were indicted for corruption in Zia Charitable Trust.
The Anti-Corruption Commission in July 2009 filed the Zia Orphanage graft case against the former prime minister, her elder son and four others for embezzling money by forming the "fake" trust.
Another case was filed against her in 2011 for abusing power to set up the Zia Charitable Trust.
