In January 2007, Iajuddin Ahmed stepped down as the head of the caretaker government, under pressure from the military. Fakhruddin Ahmed, former World Bank economist, was selected to replace him and with the commitment to rooting out corruption and preparing a better voter list. Fakhruddin Ahmed became the Chief Advisor. A State of Emergency was declared and a massive campaign to crack down on corruption was undertaken. By July 2007 some 200,000 people had been arrested under corruption charges. The government said it would hold elections before the end of 2008. In April 2007, Ahmed's military backed administration attempted to reform the political parties by exiling Hasina and Zia, but this was never enforced. Hasina, who had been visiting her children in the US, was allowed to return but she had to face serious charges, including involvement in the assassination of four political rivals. In July, she was arrested after two businessmen testified that she had extorted ৳80 million (US$1.16 million) from them. This provoked angry protests from her supporters; even her bitter rival Khaleda Zia, as well as six British MPs and MEPs, called for her release. Khaleda herself faced charges of tax evasion and was later arrested. Tarique Rahman was taken to custody for the 2004 grenade attacks and various corruption charges including money laundering, and was later sent on forced exile on 11 September 2008 and since then has not been able to return to the country. After holding power for almost two years, the political situation had finally calmed and Ahmed decided to return parliamentary democracy, testing the political situation with some local elections held on 4 August 2008, which were peaceful. Both Hasina and Khaleda were finally released from prison and the General elections were held on 29 December 2008. The Awami League and its Grand Alliance won the elections with two-thirds of the seats in parliament. The BNP and its four-party alliance, including Jamaat-e-Islami, comprised the major opposition. The Awami League came to power by winning the vast majority of parliament seats in the election held on 29 December 2008, and Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the second time. Her cabinet took oath on 6 January 2009. HM Ershad was promised to be made President in exchange for support for Awami League, but despite supporting Awami League, this promise was not fulfilled and Zillur Rahman became President. The first two years under this government was peaceful, but a debatable issue took place when the Awami League government enforced an existing law to reclaim the house where Khaleda Zia had lived for nearly 40 years for a nominal cost.