The Appellate Division has acquitted BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case. The verdict was delivered on Monday morning by a three-judge bench led by Senior Justice Md. Ashfaqul Islam.

Earlier, on Sunday, the court scheduled a hearing for Monday on the appeals filed by the state and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against the High Court’s acquittal of Khaleda Zia.

During the hearing, lawyer Asif Hossain represented the ACC, while Additional Attorney General Barrister Anik R. Haque appeared for the state. Khaleda Zia was defended by Barrister Kaiser Kamal, Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajol, and others.

The ACC originally filed the case on August 8, 2010, at Dhaka’s Tejgaon police station, alleging illegal transactions of Tk 3.15 crore under the name of the Zia Charitable Trust.

On October 19, 2018, Dhaka’s Special Judge Court-5 convicted Khaleda Zia and three others, sentencing them to seven years in prison along with fines. The other convicts were her former political secretary, the late Harris Chowdhury; his then-personal secretary, Ziaul Islam Munna; and former mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s personal secretary, Monirul Islam Khan. Except for Harris Chowdhury, the others later appealed to the High Court.

Following a shift in the political landscape, the High Court acquitted Khaleda Zia on November 27, 2023. In response, the state and the ACC recently appealed against that decision, leading to today’s ruling by the Appellate Division.