Full verdict published acquitting Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman

The full verdict of the Appellate Division acquitting BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman from the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case has been published.

The full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed had acquitted Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on January 15 this year and gave a summary verdict.

The full 59-page copy of the Appellate Division verdict has been published on the Supreme Court website.

In the judgment, the court said: “The proceedings forming the subject matter of these appeals (of the case) were purposefully structured, which appears to be a clear abuse of law, which is equivalent to a malicious prosecution.”

The court further said: “This judgment will also apply to other convicted persons who did not appeal in this case.”

On January 15, the Appellate Division’s verdict quashed the judgments of the trial court and the High Court. Due to this, Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman, along with other accused, were acquitted of their sentences without appealing.

The judgment was given on January 15 after accepting the appeals filed by three people including Khaleda Zia in the case. Appellate Division pronounced the verdict unanimously.

On October 30, 2018, the High Court rejected Khaleda Zia’s appeal against the verdict of the Dhaka Trial Court in this case and increased the sentence by 10 years.

On March 14, 2019, Khaleda Zia filed two separate leave to appeals (applications for permission to appeal) against this verdict. On November 11 last year, the Appellate Division granted Khaleda Zia's leave to appeal and issued an order suspending the effectiveness of the sentence. Following this, Khaleda Zia filed separate appeals against the sentence.

In addition, former MP Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed filed separate appeals last year against the High Court's verdict upholding the 10-year prison sentence.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against Khaleda Zia and six others on July 3, 2008, on charges of misappropriating Tk21,071,671 sent from abroad to help orphans through corruption. On February 8, 2018, the Special Judge Court-5 delivered its verdict in this case.

In the verdict, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia was sentenced to five years in prison. Khaleda Zia's eldest son and acting chairman of the BNP, Tarique Rahman, former MP Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal, former Chief Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed and Mominur Rahman were sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined. Later, Khaleda Zia appealed to the High Court in 2018 against the trial court's verdict. Kazi Salimul Haque and Sharfuddin Ahmed filed separate appeals against the prison sentence and fine.

On October 30 of the same year, following an application by the ACC seeking an increase in Khaleda Zia's sentence, the High Court bench increased Khaleda Zia's sentence from five years to 10 years.

The court rejected the appeals of Khaleda Zia, who sought acquittal from the five-year sentence, and former Magura MP Kazi Salimul Haque Kamal alias Kazi Kamal, and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed, who sought acquittal from the 10-year sentence.

After hearing the three appeals and the rule, the High Court delivered a joint verdict on October 30, 2018. The verdict dismissed Khaleda Zia's appeal. The High Court, declaring the rule issued in response to the ACC's revision petition as valid, increased Khaleda Zia's sentence to 10 years in prison. The High Court dismissed the appeals of businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed and Kazi Salimul Haque.

Khaleda Zia, Sharfuddin Ahmed and Kazi Salimul Haque filed separate appeals against the High Court's verdict last year. The appeal hearing then began on January 7. The hearing ended on January 14.