Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on the four appeal petitions in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust case till July 8, in which BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
Of the four pleas, one was filed by Khaleda Zia seeking acquittal, a revision petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking enhancement of Khaleda’s jail sentence and two others filed by convicts Qazi Saleemul Huq alias
Qazi Kamal and Sharfuddin Ahmed seeking acquittal.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order considering an application filed by Khaleda Zia’s lawyers seeking adjournment of the hearing.
Khaleda’s lawyers said in the application that she had earlier submitted a petition to the Supreme Court seeking review of its May 16 order that asked the HC to hear and dispose of her appeal in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case by July 31. So they prayed to the HC to adjourn the appeal hearing till the dispose up of the review petition which is pending with the SC.
Attorney general Mahbubey Alam stood for the State, while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan for the Anti-Corruption Commission and A J Mohammad Ali for Khaleda Zia. On June 27, the High Court fixed July 3 for hearing on the appeal petition filed by Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
Earlier, the HC bench led by Justice Enayetur Rahim on March 12 granted four months’ bail to Khaleda in this case, accepting the appeals of Khaleda, Saleemul and Sharfuddin for their hearing and stayed their fines.
Following the ACC’s petition, the HC on March 28 issued a rule asking Khaleda and the government to explain why her jail sentence in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case should not be extended. On February 8, the Special Judge’s Court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the graft case.
The court also jailed her elder son Tarique Rahman, now the Acting Chairman of BNP, and four others for 10 years and fined them Tk 2.1 crore, saying all the six convicts would have to pay the fine in equal amounts.
The four other convicts are Qazi Saleemul Huq, an ex-BNP MP from Magura; Sharfuddin Ahmed, a businessman; Mominur Rahman, a cousin of Tarique; and Kamal Uddin Siddique, former Principal Secretary.
Of them, Mominur and Kamal are on the run while Salimul and Sharfuddin were sent to jail on February 8. The sentence of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender.
The ACC filed the case with Ramna police in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
The High Court (HC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on the four appeal petitions in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust case till July 8, in which BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.
Of the four pleas, one was filed by Khaleda Zia seeking acquittal, a revision petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking enhancement of Khaleda’s jail sentence and two others filed by convicts Qazi Saleemul Huq alias
Qazi Kamal and Sharfuddin Ahmed seeking acquittal.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order considering an application filed by Khaleda Zia’s lawyers seeking adjournment of the hearing.
Khaleda’s lawyers said in the application that she had earlier submitted a petition to the Supreme Court seeking review of its May 16 order that asked the HC to hear and dispose of her appeal in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case by July 31. So they prayed to the HC to adjourn the appeal hearing till the dispose up of the review petition which is pending with the SC.
Attorney general Mahbubey Alam stood for the State, while lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan for the Anti-Corruption Commission and A J Mohammad Ali for Khaleda Zia. On June 27, the High Court fixed July 3 for hearing on the appeal petition filed by Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust case.
Earlier, the HC bench led by Justice Enayetur Rahim on March 12 granted four months’ bail to Khaleda in this case, accepting the appeals of Khaleda, Saleemul and Sharfuddin for their hearing and stayed their fines.
Following the ACC’s petition, the HC on March 28 issued a rule asking Khaleda and the government to explain why her jail sentence in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case should not be extended. On February 8, the Special Judge’s Court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to five years’ rigorous imprisonment in the graft case.
The court also jailed her elder son Tarique Rahman, now the Acting Chairman of BNP, and four others for 10 years and fined them Tk 2.1 crore, saying all the six convicts would have to pay the fine in equal amounts.
The four other convicts are Qazi Saleemul Huq, an ex-BNP MP from Magura; Sharfuddin Ahmed, a businessman; Mominur Rahman, a cousin of Tarique; and Kamal Uddin Siddique, former Principal Secretary.
Of them, Mominur and Kamal are on the run while Salimul and Sharfuddin were sent to jail on February 8. The sentence of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender.
The ACC filed the case with Ramna police in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
