Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh has tested positive for Covid-19, Dhaka Tribune said quoting health ministry sources.
“Health Ministry spokesperson has confirmed it, but the BNP says it is unaware of the test result,” the report said.
“It is true that Khaleda Zia underwent regular check-ups, but the family has no knowledge of anything like that [Covid-19 test]. It is better to ask those who have confirmed that she has contracted the virus,” Dhaka Tribune quoted Shairul Kabir Khan, member of the BNP chairperson’s media wing as saying.
The news organisation said that last month, the Sheikh Hasina government had approved the proposal of suspending Zia's prison sentences in two graft cases for six more months.
The report said that amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government freed Zia from jail on conditions for six months through an executive order suspending her sentences on March 25 last year.
“She was released from the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) the same day, and she has been staying at her Gulshan residence since then,” Dhaka Tribune said.
Zia is currently fighting several graft cases against her.
On July 3, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case against Khaleda Zia, her son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and four others with Ramna police station, accusing them of misappropriating Tk2.1 crore — donations meant for a trust to be formed in her husband's name, the newspaper said. It also noted that on February 8, 2018, a special court convicted the former PM and sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the case. She was sent to serve her sentence at a special jail in the Old Dhaka Central Jail building on Nazimuddin Road.
