Dhaka - Authorities in Bangladesh decided Wednesday to
withdraw all 'politically motivated' graft charges brought against
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed during her time in opposition.
'The government has decided to withdraw all 12 cases against the
premier filed during the four-party alliance regime of Khaleda Zia
and the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed,' the State Minister
for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Quamrul Islam said after a
meeting that reviewed charges brought in the last seven years.
Hasina had been arrested in a graft case filed during the
military-backed administration that ruled the South Asian country for
two years in the wake of political turmoil in 2006.
Bangladesh returned to a parliametary democracy earlier this year
and the government went on to review all cases deemed politically
motivated.
Hasina's Awami League-led alliance enjoys a huge parliamentary
majority and formed a government in January.
More than 5,000 applications were submitted at district
level-committees, the state minister, who heads the review team,
said, adding that his committee suggested lifting of 50 more cases
filed against political leaders.
However, Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia, who
applied for having corruption charges against her lifted, was not in
the list. Zia was detained along with her family members by the
military-backed government of Fakhruddin Ahmed in 2007.
The minister said that the government will suggest for the Anti
Corruption Commission to withdraw 26 graft cases. The remaining 36
criminal cases will be withdrawn through executive order to be issued
by the justice ministry.
Quamrul said a total of 113 cases had been reviewed out of 824
applications received by the central committee.
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