Bangladesh Supreme Court has acquitted former PM of the country Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. In its verdict, the SC acquitted Zia, her party’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, and all other suspects. The Appellate Division of the Court noted that the case against Zia was motivated by revenge.
Khaleda Zia, the leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was the PM of the country from 1991 to 1996, and then again from 2001 to 2006.
She was sentenced on February 8, 2018, by Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-5, to five years of imprisonment for embezzlement of government funds in the name of the Zia Orphanage Trust.
A High Court bench later increased the sentence to 10 years in October 2018. Now, after the ouster of her opponent Sheikh Haseena from power, the Supreme Court has reversed that verdict and acquitted her in the case.
