He made this claim in a post on social media Facebook on Tuesday (July 7).
Maruf Kamal Khan claimed that after taking office as Prime Minister in 1991, Khaleda Zia used to take only 1 taka from her government salary and donate the rest to orphanages.
In the Facebook post, he wrote that Khaleda Zia became Prime Minister after winning the 1991 national parliamentary elections held after the mass movement of 1990. While in office, she used to spend almost all of her entitled salary for orphanages.
He further claimed that even later, while serving as Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, Khaleda Zia regularly spent money to help the poor, helpless, and orphaned people. Besides, she also bore the educational expenses of financially insolvent but meritorious students. However, Maruf Kamal Khan also mentioned that she was never interested in publicizing these matters.
Giving an example, he said that Khaleda Zia bore the entire cost of higher education for a poor student who achieved outstanding results in the 2001 SSC examination. He claimed that the student later passed the BCS examination and is currently serving as a Joint Secretary in the government.
However, no independent formal verification or official information regarding these statements and claims of Maruf Kamal Khan was immediately available.