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1st LD Writethru: Bangladeshi ex-PM gets conditional bail in graft cases

Xinhua, April 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

A court in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has granted conditional bail to ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in two cases filed by the country's anti-graft body.

The court on Feb. 25 issued an arrest warrant against Khaleda Zia, scrapping her bails in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust cases.

Judge Abu Ahmed Jomadar of the Special Judge's Court-3 Sunday granted bail to Khaleda Zia after she appeared before the court to seek bail.

Sanaullah Miah, a counsel for Khaleda Zia, submitted two separate bail petitions before the court in the graft cases.

Zia, who for the first time in more than three months has stepped out of her office where she was confined on the night of Jan. 3, entered the court premises at about 10:30 a.m. local time amid tight security.

A source said Khaleda Zia, also Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP) chairperson, has been granted bail on condition that at least two of the nine accused in the graft charges must appear before the court in the next hearings.

May 5 has been fixed as the next date for hearing the cases.

The Special Judge Court-3 of Dhaka on last March 19 brought charges against Khaleda, her elder son Tarique Rahman and seven others in the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases filed by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Khaleda was indicted in both cases, while her elder son Tarique Rahman, senior vice-chairman of the BNP, in the orphanage case.

ACC filed the orphanage case in July 2008, saying that Khaleda and five others including her elder son Tarique Rahman had embezzled over 20 million taka (253,164 U.S. dollars) from an orphanage trust during her 2001-2006 term as prime minister.

In 2011, the anti-graft body sued the BNP chief and three others for pocketing 31.5 million taka (397,435 U.S. dollars) of the Zia Charitable Trust in the name of her late husband, former President Ziaur Rahman.

Zia had earlier said political vendettas were to blame for the cases against her and her sons.

Zia's 20-party opposition alliance has been observing a nationwide blockade since Jan. 5, demanding fresh elections under a non-party caretaker government system.

On top of its blockade campaign, BNP and its 19 allies including key Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party have been observing strike at regular intervals.

The fresh wave of violence has left scores of people dead and hundreds injured. Endi