Dhaka, Sep 10 (IANS): Deposition of witnesses in the two graft cases against Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia was deferred yet again Wednesday.

Dhaka's Third Metropolitan Sessions Court Judge Basudeb Roy set Sep 17 as the date to record testimonies after defence counsel pleaded for time, bdnews24.com reported.

On Sep 3, the same court had set Sep 10 to record testimonies of witnesses at a hearing, which was attended by Khaleda Zia.

The depositions in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) have been deferred as two pleas by the BNP chief with regard to the cases are yet to be resolved at the appellate division.

Earlier July 27, the same court had deferred the deposition of witnesses in the two cases as Khaleda did not attend the hearing.

It had then ordered the BNP chief to appear before the court.

On March 19, charges were framed against eight people, including Khaleda and her elder son Tarique Rahman, in the two cases accusing them of embezzlement.

Khaleda May 12 challenged the legality of the appointment of Judge Basudeb Roy.

She also sought a stay on the case proceedings.

On May 25, the high court bench of Justices Farah Mahbub and Kazi Md. Ejarul Haque Akondo delivered a split verdict on the plea regarding the legality of the judge's appointment.

Earlier, the former prime minister had moved the high court challenging the indictment but her plea was dismissed.

Justice Farah Mahbub issued a ruling and ordered a freeze on the proceedings in the cases, while Justice Kazi Md. Ejarul Haque Akondo wanted to scrap the petitions.

According to rules, the matter was forwarded to the chief justice who assigned Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque's bench to hear the petitions.

The ACC in 2008 filed a case against six people, including Khaleda and her son Tarique Rahman, for allegedly siphoning off 21 million taka ($270,000) from the Zia Orphanage Trust funds, which reportedly came from a foreign bank.

Charges were pressed against them two years later.

In 2011, the ACC accused the BNP chief and three others of misappropriating 31.5 million taka from the Zia Charitable Trust.

The national anti-graft agency started prosecution against the four by submitting a charge-sheet against them in 2012.