ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Bangladeshi ex-PM to be tried for corruption and abuse of power

A criminal court in Dhaka has ordered former prime minister and Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia to stand trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power, court officials said on Monday.

Judge Kazi Ghulam Rasul of the Dhaka district court earlier allowed pre-arrest bail to Zia after she appeared at the court with her lawyers and hundreds of supporters on Sunday.

Officials said the trial will start on July 26. Zia has been indicted for appointing 750 activists of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party as police officers, an act violating normal rules.

Zia denied the charges, claiming the case against her was politically motivated and intended to smear her public image. A former home minister in Zia's cabinet, Abdul Matin Chowdhury, has also been charged with corruption for approving the appointments.

The police used force to control crowds of Zia's supporters trying to surge into the cramped courtroom in the old part of Dhaka yesterday. At least 23 people were injured, witnesses said.

The charges against Zia and Chowdhury were filed with the court by the anti-corruption bureau. The appointments were made between 1991 and 1995, when the BNP was in power under Zia.

Zia was forced to step down in March 1996 amidst street protests three months ahead of a general election, in which the BNP lost power to the Awami League under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report