Dhaka, May 8 (PTI): Bangladesh’s Supreme Court today deferred until tomorrow the hearing on a plea by the country’s anti-corruption body challenging the bail granted to former prime minister and opposition BNP chief Khaleda Zia in a corruption case.
Zia, 73, was sentenced to five years in jail in February by a lower court in connection with the embezzlement of 21 million taka (about USD 250,000) in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, named after her late husband Ziaur Rahman, a military ruler-turned-politician, during her 2001-2006 premiership.
“The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court concluded the hearing for the day and set the date for tomorrow for further arguments on the matter,” a spokesman of the Attorney General’s office said.
The High Court on March 12 granted Zia a four-month interim bail, considering her age and health issues after the special court released the full verdict.
When the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the State moved the apex court’s Appellate Division, it suspended the bail order until May 8, allowing these two to start appeals against the bail.
The four-member Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, was scheduled to pass the order today, but it deferred the hearing until tomorrow.
As the hearing in the case began, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam presented his arguments on the appeal challenging the bail petition. Later, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam also presented his arguments on behalf of the State.
The AG and the lawyer for the graft commission argued that the lower court had already taken a lenient stance in handing down her the jail term due to her age, and this “lenient punishment” could not be a reason for her bail.
They also said that Zia challenged her conviction in the High Court and “let her get acquitted there”, but now she did not deserve the bail for her sickness as the medical board, which had examined her, had not recommended that she be hospitalised, which could have been the ground for her bail.
Arguing on behalf of Zia, top pro-BNP lawyers, including former attorney general A J Mohamamd Ali pleaded for the former premier’s bail on the ground of her ill health and old age.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other senior party leaders were also present in the courtroom while party activists rallied around the Supreme Court complex, prompting the government to deploy extra security personnel in and around the premises.
Zia’s imprisonment shook the country’s political scenario ahead of the general elections in December this year. The BNP, the main opposition outside parliament, alleged the trial was politically motivated to debar her from contesting elections, an allegation denied by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government.
Political analysts feared the BNP is facing political wilderness after Zia’s conviction, which is likely to disqualify her from elections unless she could obtain a different verdict from the Supreme Court.
