Bangladesh SC defers Khaledas bail hearing

Dhaka May 8 (IANS) The Bangladesh Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred a hearing on opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia s bail in a corruption case in which she is currently serving a five-year sentence.

A four-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will resume the hearing of arguments from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader s side on Wednesday the Daily Star reported.

On February 8 a special court found Khaleda who is also facing several other cases of corruption violence and sedition guilty of embezzling $252 000 in foreign donations for the Zia Orphanage Trust.

She was granted a four month bail by the High Court on March 12. However the apex court stayed the bail order following two petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government.

Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan said Khaleda cannot be given bail "due to the gravity of the offences she committed".

--IANS
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