Bangladesh: Former PM Khaleda Zia gets five years' jail term in orphanage trust embezzlement case
Dhaka, Feb 8 (IBNS) : Former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was on Thursday sentenced to five years in jail as a Bangladesh court convicted her in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, reports said.
Her son Tarique Rahman and four others got 10 years' jail term in connection with the same case.
Zia was found guilty of embezzlement of 252,000 Dollars from a trust created for an orphanage in the name of her late husband and Bangladesh's former President Ziaur Rahman.
The BNP had dismissed the charge as politically motivated.
Clad in her signature off-white chiffon sari, Khaleda Zia sat on a chair next to the judge’s desk when Justice Akhtaruzzaman read the verdict.
Earlier, police tear-gassed BNP activists to break up protests on Nazimuddin Road in Old Dhaka as they clashed with the lawkeepers after their leader entered the court premises.
Local media reports said at least five police officers had been injured and two motorcycles torched during the clashes that broke out several kilometres (miles) from the court premises.
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