Khaleda 'fugitive'

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has lost her right to defend herself in the two corruption cases for now, as a Dhaka court has declared her a fugitive in the cases.

"She can contest the cases if she surrenders to the court in future," Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar of the Special Judge Court-3 said in a packed courtroom yesterday.

On February 25, Khaleda's counsels were not allowed to participate in the trial proceedings to defend her as the court cancelled her bail on the day and issued arrest warrants in the Zia Orphanage Trust and the Zia Charitable Trust graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The court that day completed recording the statement of complainant ACC Deputy Director Harunur Rashid, also one of the 23 witnesses in the two cases.

Yesterday, the court also rejected Khaleda's bail plea and upheld the arrest warrants for the former premier for dodging the court hearing on four consecutive dates.

The judge came up with the decisions after hearing four petitions filed on behalf of Khaleda, seeking withdrawal of the arrest warrants and adjournment of the case proceedings.

After a two-hour hearing, Judge Abu Ahmed said the law did not allow filing of such pleas on behalf of any fugitive accused.

However, he neither accepted nor rejected the petitions. He simply put those in the case files.

The court fixed April 5 for the next hearing of the cases.

According to the charge sheet of the orphanage case, Khaleda, Tarique and four others embezzled Tk 2.1 crore by forming the charity that exists only on paper.

The statement of the other case said the BNP chief and three others abused power to collect Tk 6.19 crore for Zia Charitable Trust during the BNP-led government's tenure between 1991 and 1996.

During yesterday's hearing at the makeshift court in the capital's Bakshibazar area, former attorney general AJ Mohammad Ali, a counsel for Khaleda, filed another petition seeking to know the execution status of the arrest orders.

Opposing the petition, ACC counsel Mosharraf Hossain Kajol argued that there was no point in raising the issue before the court since it's the duty of the police to execute the court order.

The judge did not say anything about it.

"The arrest warrants against Khaleda Zia remain in force and it will take effect. Either she herself has to come to the court or the authorities will arrest and bring her," Kajol told journalists later.

NEW PLEA BY KHALEDA'S COUNSELS

Unlike previous hearings, counsels for Khaleda yesterday pleaded to the court to allow them to represent her during the case proceedings.

In response, the judge said the counsels had never made any such prayer since the trial proceedings began.

Opposing the prayer, Kajol said Khaleda's counsels earlier petitioned to represent Tarique Rahman in the case, but they never did so for the BNP chief.

Khaleda has refrained from appearing before the court on 56 out of 63 dates for hearing of the two cases.

"Their intention is to delay the trial," Kajol argued during the hearing.

He also told the court that the law did not allow anybody to file any petition to the court on behalf of a fugitive accused.

ROW OVER PETITIONS

During the hearing yesterday, Khaleda's lawyer Mohammad Ali questioned the neutrality of the court, and said, "The court issued the arrest warrants being biased."

In response, Judge Abu Ahmed said making such comments was contemptuous.

The judge also interrupted Mohammad Ali when the latter was giving references to different rulings of the higher courts to back the defence plea for withdrawal of the arrest warrants.

Then Mohammad Ali said he was a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court's Appellate Division. Even the apex court judges would not interrupt him during his submissions, he said.

Mahbubuddin Khokon, secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and a counsel for Khaleda, took his cue and told the judge: "I will inform the apex court about you."

ACC lawyer Kajol then stood up from his chair and asked Khokon not to put pressure on the court.

At one stage when Ali was repeatedly telling the judge that the latter has to "know and learn" the necessity of the higher court's rulings, Judge Abu Ahmed said: "It's not a class room. I feel insulted in presence of a huge audience."

Later in the afternoon, counsels for the BNP chief held a press conference at the SCBA office, and demanded withdrawal of the arrest warrants for Khaleda.

SCBA President Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, also a lawyer for Khaleda, said the judge issued the arrest warrants "illegally and unethically".

The court did not issue any show-cause notice to her bail guarantor before cancelling the bail and issuing the arrest warrants, he said.

On Khaleda's petitions, the SCBA president said the judge could have either accepted or rejected the pleas, but instead he kept those in the case files, which was surprising.

TARIQUE'S BAIL UPHELD

During yesterday's hearing, Tarique Rahman's counsel Sanaullah Mia applied to the court for upholding his bail and allowing his lawyers to represent him in his absence.

The court entertained the petition.

Tarique, the elder son of Khaleda Zia, is an accused in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case and has been living in London since September 2008.

The court on February 25 asked Tarique's counsel to produce the accused before the court yesterday.

Sanaullah yesterday informed the court that Tarique was still sick.

All the seven witnesses in the orphanage trust case were present at the court.