Khaleda’s Case
ACC asked to submit probe report on Oct 10
A Dhaka court on Tuesday asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to submit by October 10 the report of the investigation of the corruption case it filed against the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Monday.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Md Erfan Ullah also posted for October 10 the hearing in the case filed with the Tejgaon police accusing Khaleda of criminal misconduct and abusing her power as the then prime minister in creating the Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Charitable Trust, accumulating money from undisclosed sources and buying 42 kathas of land at Kakrail for the trust.
The court passed the order after accepting the first information report of the case, which was sent to the court on Tuesday by the Tejgaon police. Anti-Corruption Commission assistant director Harunur Rashid filed the case.
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Haris Chowdhury, his former assistant private secretary MD Ziaul Islam (Munna), now acting director of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, and Manirul Islam Khan, the Dhaka mayor’s assistant private secretary, were also accused of helping Khaleda in committing the offence.
This is the first case filed so far against Khaleda since the ruling Awami League-led alliance assumed power on January 6, 2009.
Khaleda was accused of committing the offence under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
According to the law, the offence is non-bailable and if the charge is proved Khaleda may be punished with imprisonment for seven years.
The three other accused may also face similar punishment for helping her in committing the offence.
The case was filed although the commission was yet to reply to a rule issued by the High Court on 24 May, 2010 that asked it to explain why its notice asking Khaleda to make a statement in connection with the investigation of the corruption allegations regarding the charity would not be declared illegal.
According to the complaint, Khaleda did not respond to four letters issued by the commission asking her to make a statement about the allegations.
A 42-katha plot of land at Kakrail was bought on January 19, 2005 for Tk 65.2 million.
But the seller, Suraiya Khanam, received Tk 12.5 million more in addition to the amount, the complaint stated.
The extra money in the seller’s bank account came from the trust and the trust failed to show any valid source for the money, it said.
According to the complaint, an account in the name of the Shaheed Zia Charitable Trust was opened in the Prime Minister’s Office branch of the Sonali Bank on January 9, 2005.
Around Tk 78.9 million was deposited in the account the next week. The BNP contributed Tk 61.9 million, Metro Makers Developers Ltd Tk 13.5 million and Ziaul Islam Tk 2.7 million.
Apart from the money deposited by the BNP, the commission alleged, the sources of money deposited by Metro and Ziaul were not shown.
Metro’s managing director AFS Jahangir told commission investigators that the Dhaka mayor’s APS, Manirul, had used the name of his firm to deposit the money in the account.
But Monirul told the commission that he had deposited the money given to him by Haris Chowdhury.
Ziaul said that he had funded the purchase of the land in response to Haris’s order.
The filing of the case against Khaleda coincided with the first-ever indictment of her eldest son, Tarique Rahman, on charge of money laundering.
Although the trust was set up in the name of charity, no charitable activities had ever been done by it, the complaint alleged.
-With New Age input
