Staff Reporter :
The High Court (HC) on Sunday fixed Tuesday for hearing of four separate appeals in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust case 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 fixed the date after the appeals of ACC, Saleemul and Sharfud in were included in its cause list for order.
Earlier, the same HC Bench fixed July 3 for hearing the appeal of Khaleda Zia challenging the lower court verdict against her in this case.
Yesterday, the HC Bench said, all the appeals of Khaleda Zia, ACC, Saleemul and Sharfud in will be heard analogously.
Following an application submitted by the ACC, Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on Thursday asked the HC bench led by Justice Enayetur Rahim to hold hearing on the appeals of ACC, Saleemul and Sharfuddin.
Earlier, the HC Bench led by Justice Enayetur Rahim on March 12 granted four months’ bail to Khaleda Zia 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 Saleemul 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 Station in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
