By Xinhua
Dhaka : The Bangladesh High Court Sunday granted bail to detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia, facing a corruption case, and ordered a stay on all proceedings of the case.
The order was passed on writ petitions filed by Khaleda Zia and her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, who were both arrested Sep 3 on corruption charges. However, the court didn’t grant bail to Koko.
“The rule is made returnable in six weeks,” says the court order.
Khaleda and her younger son Koko have been accused by Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission of favouring Koko’s Global Agro Trade Company (GATCO) as a contractor for both the Inland Container Depot in capital Dhaka and southeastern Chittagong port on March 1, 2003 without following a proper bidding procedure.
In the GATCO scam case, they were alleged to secure financial benefits of 22 million taka (about $314,000) by abusing the power and thus inflicting a loss of 10 billion taka (about $140 million) to the exchequer.
Sources said, the government is preparing to move to the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court order.
Khaleda Zia, who is also the chairperson of former ruling party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was prime minister from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006.
Her elder son Tarique Rahman was arrested on March 8 this year on charges of extortion.
The current military-backed caretaker government on taking office Jan 12 launched a crusade against corruption in Bangladesh, held one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Over 200 political leaders, including two former prime ministers, former ministers and lawmakers were arrested on charges of corruption, extortion and abuse of power. Special anti-corruption courts have already sentenced over one dozen of ex-ministers and lawmakers to different terms.