The High Court today (November 27) acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case in which she was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment by a lower court.

HC bench comprising Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Syed Enayet Hossain delivered the judgement after hearing separate appeals filed by the accused challenging the earlier verdict.

During today’s proceedings, Khaleda was represented by pro-BNP lawyers Md Bodroddoza Badal, Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan, and Maksud Ullah, while Deputy Attorney General Md Jashim Sarker and lawyer Ashif Hassan represented the state and the ACC. 

On November 3 this year, the HC allowed Khaleda to prepare the case's paper books at her expense. These documents, which contain comprehensive details such as trial proceedings, evidence, and verdicts, are essential for HC appeals against lower court rulings.

On August 8, 2011, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) accused Khaleda and three others of misusing power to raise funds for the Zia Charitable Trust from unidentified sources. 

On October 29, 2018, a Dhaka court sentenced Khaleda to seven years of imprisonment and fined her Tk 10 lakh in the case. The other accused included her then-political secretary Harris Chowdhury (now dead), Chowdhury’s private secretary Ziaul Islam Munna, and Monirul Islam Khan, a private secretary to Dhaka's former mayor.

In 2018, Khaleda Zia was convicted and sentenced in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case, initially for five years, later doubled by the HC. 

In the same year, she was sentenced to seven years in the Zia Charitable Trust case. After years under house arrest, Khaleda was released on August 6, 2024, through a presidential pardon issued by Mohammed Shahabuddin following Sheikh Hasina's resignation.

BDST: 1242 HRS, NOV 27, 2024
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