February 08, 2018: Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister and Opposition BNP chief Khaleda Zia has been sentenced to five years in jail in a corruption case.
72-year-old Zia was sentenced by a special court in the capital, Dhaka, in connection with embezzlement of 252,000 US dollar in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust.
In the same case, her son Tarique Rahman and four others have been sentenced to 10 years in jail.
On November 30, 2014, Khaleda Zia lost her last ditch effort to evade the graft trial as the Supreme Court turned down her second ‘leave to appeal’ petition challenging her indictment and asked her to face trial in the lower court.
The high court earlier validated the trial in the lower court which on March 19, 2014 had indicted Zia on two graft charges brought by the Anti Corruption Commission. (AIR News)
