The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday set December 5 to pass its order on a plea of BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia for bail in Zia Charitable Trust graft case. A six-member apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after holding hearing on the matter. The court also sought report of medical board formed to treat the BNP chief at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital.

Khaleda’s lawyers filed the plea on November 14 and on November 25, the apex court set yesterday to hold hearing on the matter. BNP leader and senior lawyers like Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Moudud Ahmed and Jainul Abedin moved the plea for Khaleda, while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan stood for Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Attorney General Mahbubey Alam appeared for the state.

Dhaka Special Judge Court-5 on October 29, 2018, sentenced BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and three others to seven-year imprisonment each in Zia Charitable Trust graft case, the second graft charge in which the ex-premier was convicted. The court also fined them Tk 10 lakh each, in default of which they will have to suffer more six months in jail.    

The ACC filed the case with capital’s Tejgaon Police Station on August 8, 2010, for embezzling Tk 3.15 crore while police on January 16, 2012, filed charge sheet against four, including the ex-premier.