HC order on Khaleda's bail today
The High Court is set to deliver an order today on the bail petition filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in connection with the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case in which she was jailed for five years.
The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim would pass the order as the case record has reached the HC section concerned from the trial court yesterday as per an order issued on February 22, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star.
Earlier in the morning yesterday, the HC judges deferred till 2:00pm today for passing necessary order regarding the bail petition, as the case record did not reach the HC by then.
The judges of the bench were scheduled to pass an order yesterday on this issue.
But, the bench said the 15-day time given to the lower court for sending the case record would expire yesterday. Therefore, the bench would wait and see whether the case record reached in time, the HC said.
The bench said this after Khaleda's lawyer Advocate Zainul Abedin prayed to it to pass an order on the bail petition, saying the HC has the jurisdiction to pass the order even without the case record.
However, the officials concerned of the lower court brought the 5,373-page case documents to the criminal appeal section of the HC around 1:00pm.
Advocate Sagir Hossain Leon, a lawyer for Khaleda, told The Daily Star the officials of the criminal appeal section would now examine the case documents and produce those to the HC bench along with an examination report for an order.
Earlier on March 8, the HC fixed yesterday for passing a necessary order regarding the bail petition.
The HC bench on February 25 heard the petition and said it would pass an order on it after receiving the case records.
On February 8, the Special Judge's Court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to five years' rigorous imprisonment after finding her guilty 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 Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case with Ramna police in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore that came from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
Meanwhile, Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim said yesterday the government wants BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to be freed through court orders.
He also hoped that the BNP along with its chief would participate in the upcoming parliamentary election, expected to be held towards the end of this year.
“We want Khaleda to be released as it looks odd that a big politician like her is in prison,” the minister told journalists after joining a roundtable discussion organised by Bangla daily Prothom Alo at its office in the capital.