Full verdict of Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda published

Hossen Sohel of DOT
The High Court (HC) has released its full verdict that doubled BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s five-year jail term in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, reports The Daily Star. The HC authorities released the full text of the judgment after the judges concerned signed it. On October 30, 2018, the High Court raised Khaleda’s jail term to 10 years from five years, handed down by a lower court in the graft case.
The HC also upheld the lower court’s judgement that convicted and sentenced 10 years in prison to other five accused in the case.
The former prime minister landed in jail on February 8, 2018 after a special court convicted Khaleda and sentenced her to five years imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
The special court also sentenced Khaleda’s eldest son and BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Tk 2.10 crore each.
Tarique, who resides in the UK, was tried in absentia. Earlier in July 2016, he had been awarded seven years’ imprisonment in a money laundering case.
The other convicts are KaziSalimul Haque, an ex-BNP lawmaker from Magura; Sharfuddin Ahmed, a businessman; Mominur Rahman, a cousin of Tarique; and Kamal Uddin Siddique, former principal secretary.
Of them, Mominur and Kamal are on the run while Salimul and Sharfuddin were sent to jail on February 8. The sentence of the fugitives will be effective from the day of their arrest or surrender.