Nizami freed on bail
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Detained Jamaat-e-Islami ameer and former minister Motiur Rahman Nizami walked to freedom on Tuesday evening on a two-month interim bail in the Gatco graft case in which ex-premier Khaleda Zia is the principal accused, report UNB/bdnews24.com
He happens to be a second political party chief to be given interim release after the arrest of top political leaders on graft charges under a crackdown in the interim period.
Earlier, ex-PM and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina had been set free on temporary bail for her treatment abroad. The matter of another detained former premier, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, remained under consideration of the caretaker government.
Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has again made positive sounds about the release of detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
"We are pressing forward with patience. The matter of Khaleda Zia's release is currently facing legal procedures," the adviser told reporters at the Secretariat Tuesday.
"We hope to see a positive result very soon," he said.
Maulana Nizami was set free from the prisons cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) at about 6:50 pm following Monday's High Court order granting him the interim bail for two months.
On May 18, the Jamaat chief was arrested from his Moghbazar home in connection with the case under the continuing clampdown on former ruling politicians launched following the January 11, 2007 political crisis over election issues.
On September 2 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Gatco scam case against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and 11 others, including her former cabinet colleagues, for alleged corruption in awarding an impugned container-handling deal to Gatco.
During the investigation, the involvement of 11 others, including Nizami and some other former ministers, was found, according to the ACC investigators.
The anti-graft watchdog submitted the charge sheet in the case on May 13 implicating a total of 24 individuals, including Nizami, the Industry Minister of the immediate-past BNP-led coalition government.
Nizami has also been accused in the Barapukuria graft case filed by the ACC on February 26. One of his lawyers told UNB that the Jamaat ameer was not yet shown arrested in connection with that case.
Meanwhile, on the seeming delay over releasing the BNP chairperson, Zillur said: "The government in a gazette regarding the release of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina mentioned that it would release Khaleda Zia on the same grounds as it did Hasina."
Asked whether the government had any plans to send Khaleda abroad for medical treatment, he said: "The government does not make any plans to send anybody abroad for treatment. It is one's personal matter where one will go to seek treatment."
The adviser reiterated that the government had invited BNP to dialogue and he hoped that the party would join in time.
He happens to be a second political party chief to be given interim release after the arrest of top political leaders on graft charges under a crackdown in the interim period.
Earlier, ex-PM and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina had been set free on temporary bail for her treatment abroad. The matter of another detained former premier, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, remained under consideration of the caretaker government.
Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has again made positive sounds about the release of detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia.
"We are pressing forward with patience. The matter of Khaleda Zia's release is currently facing legal procedures," the adviser told reporters at the Secretariat Tuesday.
"We hope to see a positive result very soon," he said.
Maulana Nizami was set free from the prisons cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) at about 6:50 pm following Monday's High Court order granting him the interim bail for two months.
On May 18, the Jamaat chief was arrested from his Moghbazar home in connection with the case under the continuing clampdown on former ruling politicians launched following the January 11, 2007 political crisis over election issues.
On September 2 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Gatco scam case against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and 11 others, including her former cabinet colleagues, for alleged corruption in awarding an impugned container-handling deal to Gatco.
During the investigation, the involvement of 11 others, including Nizami and some other former ministers, was found, according to the ACC investigators.
The anti-graft watchdog submitted the charge sheet in the case on May 13 implicating a total of 24 individuals, including Nizami, the Industry Minister of the immediate-past BNP-led coalition government.
Nizami has also been accused in the Barapukuria graft case filed by the ACC on February 26. One of his lawyers told UNB that the Jamaat ameer was not yet shown arrested in connection with that case.
Meanwhile, on the seeming delay over releasing the BNP chairperson, Zillur said: "The government in a gazette regarding the release of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina mentioned that it would release Khaleda Zia on the same grounds as it did Hasina."
Asked whether the government had any plans to send Khaleda abroad for medical treatment, he said: "The government does not make any plans to send anybody abroad for treatment. It is one's personal matter where one will go to seek treatment."
The adviser reiterated that the government had invited BNP to dialogue and he hoped that the party would join in time.