DHAKA: A Bangladesh court yesterday granted bail to former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed in an extortion case setting the stage for her return from the United States next month ahead of elections later in the year.
Hasina, who was paroled in June and allowed to go abroad for medical treatment, is still facing charges of graft in three other cases. “The prosecution has also been suspended until Oct. 19,” Hasina’s lawyer Shafique Ahmed told reporters about the case in which Hasina and a former minister were indicted for extorting some 30 million taka ($438,000) from a businessman.
They were arrested last year after the army-backed interim government headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed took charge in January 2007 following deadly political violence. Last week, Hasina’s archrival former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was released on bail after a year in detention on corruption charges.
