Khaleda verdict today amid tight security all around

A make-shift court in Dhaka is set to deliver the verdict in a graft case against Khaleda Zia today (Thursday).

The authorities have strengthened security around the court on the Alia Madrasa ground in Bakshibazar area for the announcement of judgement in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The court on 25 January set 8 February to deliver the verdict in the case that implicated Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Khaleda Zia, her son and senior BNP vice chairman Tarique Rahman and four others.

The ACC filed the graft case, during the quasi-military regime of Fakhruddin Ahmed in July 2008, accusing them of misappropriating Tk 21 million that had come as grants from a foreign bank for orphans.

The four other accused are former BNP lawmaker Salimul Haq Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed, former principal secretary to the prime minister Kamal Uddin Siddique and nephew of late president Ziaur Rahman, Mominur Rahman.