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HC gets Zia Orphanage Trust graft case documents, Khaleda bail decision Monday
The High Court is set to decide on Khaleda Zia’s bail on Monday after it received the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case documents 20 days after the verdict sentencing the BNP chief to five years in prison was delivered.
Published : 11 March 2018, 06:22 AM
Updated : 11 March 2018, 04:37 PM
Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim were to decide on the bail on Sunday but deferred the hearing as the documents of the case involving Tk 21 million embezzlements had yet to arrive from the special court.
Kotwali Police Station ASI Manju Mia brought a trunk with the case documents to the court at 12:54pm. Section Official KM Farooq Hossain received the documents at the High Court Exchange Wing. From there, the documents were taken to the criminal appeals division.
The former prime minister has been in prison since the Dhaka Special Judge’s Court No. 5 delivered the verdict on Feb 8.
Khaleda’s team challenged the verdict and sought her bail at the High Court on Feb 22.
The High Court held a hearing on bail on Feb 25, saying it would decide once it received the relevant documents from the special court.
Khaleda Zia is escorted to the jail from the court n Feb 8. File Photo
The matter was accordingly raised in court on Sunday but was deferred because the documents had not reached the court.
“A record is not necessary for the bail,” BNP leader and lawyer Zainul Abedin argued. “The court’s tradition is to issue bail without a record. The court has that power.”
“This is true. But we instructed a record on Feb 22,” the judges replied.
“Accounting for weekends, the 15-day deadline is today (Sunday). Let us see if the order is fulfilled. We will keep tomorrow (Monday) for the order,” the court said.
BNP leaders claim that political motivations are behind the ‘baseless case’ and that the ruling Awami League is attempting to ‘delay’ Khaleda’s bail.
Awami League leaders say they have no involvement with the case or the verdict and the BNP lawyers cause the delays.
On Mar 7, Dhaka Special Judge’s Court Bench Officer Mokarram Hossain said that the documents would be sent to the High Court on Sunday.
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