Pleading innocent in two graft cases, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Tuesday told a court that she had never misused the power as the Prime Minister during her tenure.

‘The false and fabricated cases were filed against me intentionally to harass me politically,’ she said while giving her self-defence statement in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case before the makeshift court of Special Judge-5 at Bakshibazar, reports the UNB.

After Khaleda’s deposition, the court fixed December 19, 20 and 21 for the next hearings in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases.

Earlier, the Dhaka Special Court-5 Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman granted bail to Khaleda Zia in the cases responding to the bail petitions she filed after her surrender.

Earlier, on November 30, the court issued an arrest warrant for Khaleda Zia in the two graft cases after cancelling her ad-interim bail as she failed to appear before it on the day.

On October 19, the court granted bail to her upon a Tk 1 lakh bond each in the two graft cases.

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

On August 8, 2011, the commission filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abuse of power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.