Former Min Nizami released on interim bail in Khaleda graft case

Dhaka, Jul 15 (UNI) Bangladesh's largest Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami chief and former minister Matiur Rahman Nizami was released this evening on a two-month interim bail in a graft case, in which ex-premier Khaleda Zia is the main accused.

Mr Nizami happens to be the second political party chief to be given an interim release after the arrest of top political leaders on graft charges under a crackdown by the military-backed caretaker government.

Earlier, ex-PM and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina had been set free on two-month temporary release for treatment in America, while the matter of another detained former premier, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, remained under consideration of the government.

Mr Nizami was set free from the prison's cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) today at about 6:50 pm (local time) following yesterday's High Court order granting him the interim bail.

On May 18, the Jamaat chief was arrested in connection with Gatco graft case under the continuing clampdown on former ruling politicians launched following the January 11, 2007 political crisis over election issues.

On September 2 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the Gatco scam case against Khaleda Zia, her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and 11 others, including her former cabinet colleagues, for alleged corruption in awarding an impugned container-handling deal to Gatco company.

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