DHAKA: The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court stayed till Sunday (March 18) the order of the High Court that granted bail to BNP Chief Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. 

A four-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after hearing upon the petition(s) against the HC order.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan moved for the petitioner (s). 

Earlier, the government and the ACC filed petitions with the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court order that granted four months interim bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage trust graft case.

Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan and state advocate (on record) Sufia Khatun filed two separate petitions in the relevant branch of the Appellate Division on Tuesday (March 13).

Earlier on Monday (March 12), an HC bench of Justices Enayetur Rahim and Shahidul Karim granted bail for four months to Khaleda Zia.  

On February 8, a Special Court in Dhaka sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years' rigorous imprisonment in the graft case.

The court also jailed her elder son Tarique Rahman, now acting chairman of the BNP, and four others for 10 years.

The Zia Orphanage Trust case was filed by Anti-Corruption Commission in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore of foreign grant money.

BDST: 1023 HRS, MAR 14, 2018
SI