The Supreme Court (SC) of Bangladesh unanimously acquitted former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Khaleda Zia, of graft charges related to the Zia Orphanage Trust case on Wednesday, local media reported. The verdict also acquitted Khaleda Zia’s son, Tarique Rahman, and four other individuals who had been convicted by a lower court.

According to local media, the SC’s Appellate Division accepted Khaleda Zia’s appeals, concluding that she was not guilty of the embezzlement charges brought against her, resulting in her full acquittal. The court justified its ruling by stating that “the proceedings, constituting the subject matter of these appeals, are found to manifest contrived misapplication of the law as tantamount to malicious prosecution”. The court further clarified that the acquittal extends to all those who were convicted by the lower court, even if they didn’t file an appeal. These include the former prime minister’s son Tarique Rahman, the Vice-Chairperson of the BNP, former deputy Kazi Salimulhaq Kamal, former Chief Secretary Kamaldin Siddiqi and businessman Sharfuddin.

Zia’s lawyers told local reporters that the corruption case against their client was politically motivated. They also argued that the prosecution failed to provide any documents or evidence prooving that Khaleda Zia embezzled money from the Zia Orphanage Trust.

Wednesday’s verdict pertains to a corruption case in Bangladesh that was uncovered by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), known as the Zia Orphanage Trust case. In 2009, the ACC accused Khaleda Zia and her son of embezzling over 21 million taka (US $305,000) in the Zia Orphanage Trust, which is a charity fund for orphans named after Zia’s husband and former President of Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman. In 2018, Bangladesh’s Fifth Special Judge’s Court sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years in prison after finding that she misused her power as prime minister to embezzle funds intended for orphans. The same court also sentenced her son, Tarique Rahman, along with the three others, Kazi Kamal, Kamaldin Siddiqi and Sharfuddin to 10 years in prison each and fined them for their involvement in the alleged embezzlement scheme.

Following this, the former prime minister appealed the conviction decision to the SC. However, the court doubled her prison sentence to 10 years and upheld the same sentence for the others. Subsequently, Zia filed a leave-to-appeal petition against it, which was accepted by the SC’s Appellate Division on November 2024, culminating in a definitive ruling on Wednesday.