Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday extended till July 26 its earlier order that granted bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust case. The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after hearing a time prayer moved by Khaleda’s lawyer Advocate A J Mohammad Ali seeking extension of her bail.
The HC on March 12 this year granted bail for four months to Khaleda in this case.
The Appellate Division on May 16 upheld the HC’s bail order. Later on July 12, the HC extended the tenure of the bail order till July 19 and again till July 26.
Meanwhile, the appeal hearing on the four appeal petitions in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust case continues at the same HC bench.
Of the four pleas, one was filed by Khaleda Zia seeking acquittal, a revision petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) praying enhancement of Khaleda’s jail sentence and two others were filed by convicts Qazi Saleemul Huq alias Qazi Kamal and Sharfuddin Ahmed seeking acquittal.
The HC bench started the hearing on July 12 and adjourned till today after yesterday’s hearing.
On Wednesday, Khaleda’s lawyer Abdur Rezak Khan submitted statements from the paper-book, which contain full description of the case.
Among the lawyers panel of Khaleda Zia, Advocate A J Mohammad Ali, Advocate Zainul Abedin and Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan were also present in the court during the hearing.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan appeared in the court on behalf of the Anti-Corruption Commission and Deputy Attorney General Farhad Ahmed was for the State.
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 about Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
