SC upholds Khaleda’s acquittal in Zia Charitable Trust case

BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.

Dhaka, Mar 3 -The Appellate Division on Monday upheld the High Court order that acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia scrapping her seven-year jail term in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

A three-member tribunal led by Senior Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam passed the order.

Earlier on February 23, the prosecution and the Anti-Corruption Commission submitted separate petitions challenging the acquittal of Khaleda Zia in the case.

Then the court set  March 2 for hearing and on Sunday the date was deferred to March 3.

On November 27 last, the High Court acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and two others in the Zia Charitable Trust case.

The HC also scrapped the lower verdict that sentenced Khaleda and two others in the same case.

Two others who got acquittal were Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary to Harris Chowdhury, ex-political secretary of then prime minister Khaleda Zia, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS to former Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka.

On November 20, the hearing on the appeal petition filed challenging the judgement in the case started while permission was given on November 3 for preparing the paper book of the case.

On October 29, 2018, Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Special Court-5 sentenced BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and three others to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each in the much-talked-about Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

The court also fined them Tk 10 lakh each, in default, to suffer six months more in jail.

On August 8, 2011, the ACC filed the Zia Charitable Trust graft case with Tejgaon Police Station accusing four people, including Khaleda Zia, of abusing power in raising funds for the trust from unknown sources.

In 2012, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) submitted chargesheet against them. - UNB