Dhaka  - The military-backed interim government in Bangladesh set free Wednesday the jailed elder son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia who was held for more than a year on charges of corruption, judicial officials said.

"Tarique Rahman has been released temporarily on medical grounds as several specialist doctors had recommended his treatment abroad," said deputy prison chief Shamsul Haider Siddiqui.

Rahman, set to wear the mantle of leadership of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), faces a dozen cases of graft filed against him by the country's Anti-Corruption Commission.

Sources in the corruption watchdog said more than a dozen other cases on extortion and fraud against him were under investigation.

Government prosecutors said Rahman had allegedly amassed huge wealth, abusing his position as the son of the prime minister.

Earlier, several thousand slogan-chanting supporters of 43-year- old Rahman gathered at a government hospital in the centre of the capital Dhaka to cheer him.

Rahman stayed in the hospital's prison ward for treatment for most of his period of detention.

His release order was announced after the High Court approved his bail petitions on all of the 13 charges of corruption brought against him by the interim regime.

Rahman has been complaining of several ailments since his arrest in March 2007.

Rahman, who controls the youth and student fronts of the BNP, reportedly suffers from spinal cord complications according to his personal physicians.

Family sources said Rahman would be sent abroad for treatment after finalization of travel plans.

Media reports say most of the money acquired by Rahman in the name of a non-existent orphanage has been already siphoned out of the country.

The charges of embezzlement of charity funds have been denied by Rahman who was appointed to an influential position in the erstwhile ruling party by his mother.

The BNP ruled the country between 2001 and 2006 at the head of a four party alliance. (dpa)