Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Thursday extended till October 15 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 and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after hearing a time prayer moved by Khaleda’s lawyer Barrister Kayser Kamal seeking extension of her bail.
The HC on March 12 this year granted bail to Khaleda for four months in this case. The Appellate Division on May 16 upheld the HC’s bail order. Later the HC extended the tenure of the bail order several times and finally on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the appeal hearing on the four appeal petitions in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust case continues at the same HC bench, which started the hearing on July 12.
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 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.
The High Court (HC) on Thursday extended till October 15 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 and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after hearing a time prayer moved by Khaleda’s lawyer Barrister Kayser Kamal seeking extension of her bail.
The HC on March 12 this year granted bail to Khaleda for four months in this case. The Appellate Division on May 16 upheld the HC’s bail order. Later the HC extended the tenure of the bail order several times and finally on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the appeal hearing on the four appeal petitions in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust case continues at the same HC bench, which started the hearing on July 12.
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 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.
