A special court in Dhaka on Monday deferred until May 15 the hearing on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's self-defence statement in the Zia OrphanageTrust graft case.

Senior Special Judge Quamrul Hossain Molla passed the order in the presence of Khaleda Zia in response to a time petition filed by her lawyer.

The court also asked Khaleda to submit before the court the HC order on a petition filed for transferring the Zia Orphanage Trust case to another court and if she fails to do so than the court will record the self-defence statement of Khaleda Zia, reports UNB.

Earlier in the day, Khaleda Zia appeared before the court around 11:40am for placing her self-defence statement in the graft case but she fell sick after reaching the court.

On July 3, 2008, the ACC filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case with Ramna Police Station accusing Khaleda Zia, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, now living in the UK after securing bail, and four others for misappropriating over Tk 21 million (2.1 crore) that came as grants from a foreign bank for orphans.

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