Khaleda gets seven yrs' jail in graft case

FE Team | Published: October 29, 2018 23:48:54

Khaleda Zia

A Dhaka court sentenced on Monday BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, now serving jail in another graft case, and three others to seven years' rigorous imprisonment each in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case, reports UNB.
The court also fined them Tk 1.0 million each, in default, to suffer six months more in jail.
The court also ordered confiscation of the 42-katha land bought against the trust's name.
Judge Md Akhtaruzzaman of the Special Court-5 pronounced the 446-page verdict in the absence of Khaleda Zia, now undergoing treatment at Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) under a special medical board formed by the government.
The court started reading out the verdict at 11:25 am.
There was no defence lawyer at the court when the verdict was delivered.
The three other accused in the case are Harris Chowdhury, political secretary of the then prime minister Khaleda between 2001 and 2006, Ziaul Islam Munna, assistant private secretary to Harris, and Monirul Islam Khan, APS to former Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka. Among them, Harris remained absconding.
With the verdict, judgments in two cases have been pronounced against Khaleda among 38 cases filed against her.