The nation’s Supreme Court acquitted former prime minister Khaleda Zia (pic) in the last corruption case against her, paving the way for her to run in elections that an interim government says will be held either in December or in the first half of 2026.
Khaleda is ailing and travelled to London earlier this month for medical treatment after being cleared in another corruption case brought under former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last August in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule.
Khaleda and Hasina are arch-rivals who have dominated Bangladesh’s politics for decades, and Hasina’s ouster has created an opportunity for Khaleda to make a comeback.
Yesterday, a five-member Appellate Division of the Supreme Court overturned a 10-year jail sentence handed down by the High Court in 2018 on charges of embezzling some US$250,000 in donations meant for an orphanage trust established when Khaleda became prime minister in 1991.
The High Court had also sentenced Khaleda’s son, Tarique Rahman, and four others to 10 years in prison for involvement in the case.
Tarique is the heir apparent in Khaleda’s party under Bangladesh’s dynastic political system.
Yesterday’s verdict by the Supreme Court also cleared Tarique and the others.
Khaleda’s lawyers said the verdict means she will be able to contest in the next election.
Under Bangladesh law, anyone imprisoned for more than two years cannot run for political office for the next five years.
Defence lawyers and Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party denied any wrongdoing involving the trust fund and said the charges were politically motivated.
Hasina fled into exile in India following her ouster amid violence that left hundreds of people dead in July and August.
She faces charges of mass killing under the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
A special tribunal has sought help from international police organisation Interpol for Hasina’s arrest and requested that India extradite her. — AP
