The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), yesterday, submitted a concise statement before the Supreme Court on an appeal filed against the High Court order that granted bail to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in a corruption case. ACC lawyer advocate Khurshid Alam Khan submitted the 28-page concise statement before the related branch of the Supreme Court yesterday morning. In its concise statement, the commission gave elaborate explanation against the four grounds on which the HC had granted bail to Khaleda Zia.
According to the statement, the High Court did not consider the gravity of the offence committed by Khaleda, a former prime minister, when granting her bail in the case.
Even the defence lawyers did not submit any medical certificate, although they claimed that Khaleda was suffering from different diseases.
The statements also said that the lower court had examined 32 witnesses’ statements and convicted Khaleda Zia after it found her guilty in the case. But the High Court did not consider the merit of the lower court judgement, while granting bail to the former prime minister, which was not correct.
The statement also said that the HC granted bail to Khaleda on consideration of her old age and social status, and considering the short sentence, which is not a legal ground for granting bail.
“Finally, we prayed in the statements to the Supreme Court to allow our appeal by cancelling the High Court order that granted bail to Khaleda Zia,” the ACC lawyer said.
He also said that the government, as well as the defence counsel, would submit their concise statements before the apex court and
the Appellate Division would hold hearing on the matter on May 8. Earlier, on March 12, the HC granted Khaleda four months' bail on four grounds including a short sentence of five years and her age and health condition.
However, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court had, on March 15, stayed the HC’s bail order following the two leave to appeal petitions filed by the ACC and the government, challenging the HC bail order.
Khaleda landed in prison on February 8 after she was handed the five-year jail sentence by a Dhaka court, for misappropriating donation funds of the Zia Orphanage Trust.
A concise statement contains all legal points on which the lawyers place arguments on an appeal petition before a court.
Meanwhile, a Cumilla court, yesterday, fixed April 10 as the date for hearing a bail petition filed by Khaleda in an arson case filed in 2015.
The Fifth Judicial Magistrate Court of Mustain Billa set the date, following a petition filed by advocate Najmul Sadat—Khaleda's counsel—seeking bail in the case.
Khaleda was shown arrested in the case on March 13, for instigating the arson attack on a bus on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Cumilla's Chauddargram upazila, that left seven passengers dead and 25 to 30 others injured, on February 3, 2015. Law enforcers submitted the charge sheet of the case to a Cumilla court, accusing Khaleda and 77 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists, on March 2 of last year.
Khaleda was convicted and jailed for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8. She is now lodged in the Old Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road in Dhaka.