The Highest court on Monday cleared all the obstructions for the lower court to continue trial proceedings against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court cleared the way for the makeshift court to run the trial proceedings against BNP chief as two leave to appeal petitions were rejected.

Meanwhile, the court fixed December 1 for the next hearing rejecting the time petition of Khaleda Zia's lawyer.   

The leave-to-appeal petitions were filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia regarding acceptance of charges and indictment in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.

A five-member bench of the apex court headed by chief justice Md Muzammel Hossain passed the order today.

The ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on July 3, 2008 with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda Zia, her eldest son Tarique Rahman and four others of misappropriating over Tk 2.10 crore that came as grants for orphans from a foreign bank.

Meanwhile, on March 19 this year, the Special Judge’s Court-3 of Dhaka framed charges against the BNP chairperson, her eldest son Tarique Rahman and seven others in the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases.

TF