Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia, her son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, along with four other accused, were acquitted on Wednesday by the appellate division of Bangladesh Supreme Court in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. They had previously been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in the case, which SC termed “malicious”.
Following the verdict, there are now no legal barriers preventing the two-time former PM from contesting the upcoming national elections. Khaleda and her son are currently residing in London.
SC overturned the judgments delivered during the regime of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina by the high court and trial court. The trial court had sentenced Khaleda to five years’ imprisonment, while Tarique and the other accused received 10 years each. Later, HC doubled Khaleda’s sentence to 10 years while upholding trial court’s verdict for the other accused.
In its ruling, SC observed that the prosecution of the Zia Orphanage Trust case was “malicious” and noted that the accused, who did not appeal the HC verdict, would also benefit from this judgment “restoring their dignity as innocent individuals”.
A five-member bench of the appellate division, led by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, delivered the unanimous verdict. The ruling came after hearings on two appeals filed by Khaleda and individual appeals made by Kazi Kamal and businessman Sharafuddin Ahmed. Khaleda had initially been jailed on Feb 8, 2018 after a special court in Dhaka sentenced her to five years in prison for her involvement in the case. The other accused – Kazi Kamal, Sharafuddin, Kamal Uddin Siddique and Mominur Rahman – were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for misappropriating over BDT 2.1 crore, which was intended as foreign grants for orphans.
