Govt, ACC file leave-to-appeal petitions against Khaledas bail
A day after the Supreme Court order halting until Sunday a High Court order granting BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia bail, the government and the Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed two separate leave-to-appeal petitions with the apex court challenging the High Court order that granted bail to the BNP chief in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. The government and Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) placed separate grounds in their petitions against the High Court order in order to extend the apex court order that stayed Khaledas bail.
In its petition, the government said that the lower court has found Khaleda guilty of misappropriating the money and it sentenced her to five years imprisonment considering her old age, sickness and social status.
So, there is no scope for granting bail to Khaleda Zia on these grounds, Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque Tutul told reporters citing from the govt petition.
The ACC in its petition said that BNP chief did not submit any medical certificate in support of her claim that she has been suffering from various diseases.
Besides, the lower court gave a short-time sentence to Khaleda Zia considering her old age and social status. So, it could not be a ground for granting bail for the BNP chief, Khurshid Alam Khan, counsel for the ACC, said citing from the ACC petition.
Khan also said that Khaleda Zia has misused bail as she went abroad during the trial proceeding. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is likely to hold hearing on the leave-to-appeal petitions on Sunday as it had on Wednesday stayed the BNP chiefs bail till Sunday asking the government and the ACC to file leave-to-appeal petitions by this time.
Earlier, on Wednesday, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, stayed until Sunday a High Court order granting a four-month interim bail to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
The apex court also asked the petitioners to file regular leave-to-appeal petitions before it by Sunday.
Earlier, on March 12, the HC bench, comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim, granted her bail on four groundsquantum of sentence, age, health condition, and not misusing bail during the trial proceedings in the lower court.
The HC bench also directed the authorities to prepare the paper book of the case within four months so that it can be heard if it is mentioned by any party.
On February 8, the special judges court-5 of Dhaka also awarded jail sentences to Tarique Rahman, now the acting chairman of the BNP, and four others for 10 years and fined them Tk 2.1 crore. The six convicts, including Khaleda, will have to pay the fine in equal amounts.
The ACC filed the graft case with Ramna police station in July 2008, accusing the six of misappropriating over Tk 2.1 crore, which had come from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.
The BNP chief faced 37 cases, and the police have submitted charges in 17 of these. Of the cases, four were filed during the tenure of the Army-backed 1/11 government that ruled between 2006 and 2008. The cases pertained to corruption in cases related to Barapukuria Coal Mine, GATCO, NIKO and the Zia Orphanage Trust.
Among the 37, lower courts have also issued arrest warrants against Khaleda in five cases as she did not appear before the courts in accordance with their orders.
