The Supreme Court today extended till October 31 for the High Court to hear and dispose the appeal filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order following two separate petitions filed by Khaleda Zia seeking review.

The Appellate Division on May 16 upheld the HC order that granted four-month bail to Khaleda in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case in which she was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

The same day, the apex court ordered the HC bench led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim to hear and dispose of her appeal challenging the lower court verdict on her by July 31 (today).

Now, the HC bench will have to finish hearing and dispose of the appeal of Khaleda by October 31 following the Supreme Court order, Anti-Corruption Commission’s lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.

He said both the Appellate and High Court divisions of the Supreme Court will go for an annual vacation on August 15 and the will reopen on October 1.

On February 8, the Special Judge's Court-5 of Dhaka sentenced Khaleda to five years' imprisonment after finding her guilty in the graft case filed by the ACC.

The Dhaka court also jailed Tarique Rahman, now the acting chairman of BNP, and four others to 10 years’ imprisonment and fined them Tk 2.1 crore.

HC extends Khaleda’s bail till Aug 8

Meanwhile, the High Court today extended till August 8 its earlier order that granted bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order following a petition filed by Khaleda seeking extension of her bail in the case.

The High Court granted four months’ bail to the BNP chief in the case on March 12 this year. The tenure of the four months’ bail expired on May 14. Then the court extended her bail for three times and the latest extension expired today.

Khaleda's bail extended in Zia Charitable Trust graft case  

Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Special Judge Court-5 of Dhaka today extended the bail of Khaleda until August 7 in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

The court came up with the order after Khaleda’s lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder submitted a petition seeking extension of her bail in the case.

On July 24, the same court extended her bail till today.

The ACC filed the case with Tejgaon police in August 2011 accusing Khaleda and three others of abusing power to raise funds for the trust from unknown sources.

The three other accused are: Harris Chowdhury, political secretary of the then prime minister Khaleda between 2001 and 2006, Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary (APS) to Harris, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS to former Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka. 

Of them, Harris is on the run, while Munna and Monirul are now on bail.