The Supreme Court of Bangladesh on Monday upheld the High Court’s verdict to acquit former Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) President Khaleda Zia in a corruption case. He was sentenced to seven years in jail by a lower court in this case.
According to the news of the government news agency BSS, a three -member appellate bench led by Justice Mohammad Ashfaqul Islam passed the order and dismissed the petition filed by the Government and the Anti -Corruption Commission (ACC), challenging the High Court’s decision to acquit Jia and others.
Jia (79) was convicted in 2018 by a court in Dhaka in the Jia Charitable Trust Corruption case. The court sentenced him to seven years imprisonment and also imposed a fine of 1 million Taka (Bangladeshi Mudra).
On November 27 last year, the High Court accepted two different appeals filed by the High Court and two other convicts Ziaul Islam and Mirrul Islam Khan, in which the Jia Charitable Trust was challenged by the lower court sentence and conviction in the corruption case and acquitted them of allegations.
The government and ACC filed a petition challenging the High Court’s decision. According to the news agency, the matter came to the regular bench of the appellate division for hearing and the Supreme Court passed its order on Monday.
The Anti -Corruption Commission had registered a case of corruption in Tejgaon police station in 2011, accusing Jia and three others of misusing power to raise funds from unknown sources.
The ‘The Daily Star’ newspaper quoted BNP president’s lawyer Maqsood Ullah as saying that Zia is now acquitted in both the Jia Orphanage Trust and Jia Charitable Trust, in which he was first convicted and sentenced. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) president was kept in Old Dhaka Central Jail on 8 February 2018 after the Dhaka court was sentenced by the Dhaka court in the Jia Orphanage Trust.
During the Kovid-19 outbreak, the then Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina temporarily released Jia from jail through an executive order, suspending her sentence on 25 March, 2020, with the condition that she would stay in her home and leave the country.
On 6 August last year, after Hasina’s withdrawal from power, Jia was released by the order of President Mohammad Shahabuddin.
Zia was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996 and again from June 2001 to October 2006. He is currently in London for treatment.
