Khaleda Zia slapped with case over undisclosed money

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) said the Zia Charitable Trust, which Khaleda Zia heads, did not have any known source of income for 12.6 million taka used for buying the land. ($1 equals 70 taka). 

The trust bought the land in January 2005 for 65.2 million taka. But the seller received 12.6 million taka more, an ACC official said requesting anonymity. The trust failed to show any valid source for the money, the official added. 

"We have accused Khaleda Zia along with five others in the case since she is the chairperson of the trust," the official said adding the case was filed in a Dhaka police station.

This is the first corruption case against the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh Awami League government took over the reigns of the government in January 2009.

Senior BNP spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has termed the case against Zia, also two-time former prime minister, "politically motivated". "It is to tarnish the image of the opposition leader," he said.