Tarique Rahman Acquitted of All Cases
The High Court has acquitted BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman in a corruption case.
The verdict was announced on Wednesday (May 28) by a single-member bench of Justice Md. Khasruzzaman. With this, Tarique Rahman is now free from all convictions and sentences.
Earlier on Monday (May 26), the court concluded the hearing and set May 28 for delivering the judgment. Asif Hasan appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), while SM Shahjahan, Kaiser Kamal, and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan represented the appellants. Deputy Attorney General Md. Abdul Karim appeared for the state.
Advocate SM Shahjahan stated that none of the properties listed under Tarique Rahman’s name were illegal or outside known sources of income. He emphasized that no funds or assets were located abroad, nor does the family have any foreign address.
He further said that the house on Mainul Road in the Dhaka Cantonment had been officially allotted to the family of Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman, and yet the ACC falsely claimed it as illegal property in the case. Another property in Gulshan, valued at only Tk 33, was also granted by the state. Despite this, Tarique was sentenced under what Shahjahan called a mockery of justice.
On May 14, the High Court accepted the appeal filed by Dr. Zubaida Rahman against her three-year prison sentence and granted her bail until the appeal is resolved, also suspending the fines.
Previously, on May 13, the High Court pardoned a 587-day delay in filing the appeal.
The original case was filed on September 26, 2007, by the ACC at Kafrul Police Station, accusing Tarique Rahman, Dr. Zubaida Rahman, and her mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu of concealing information about assets and acquiring wealth beyond known sources.
Following the trial, on August 2, 2023, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Court, presided over by Judge Md. Asaduzzaman, sentenced Tarique Rahman to a total of nine years in prison under two sections of the ACC Act: three years under section 26(2) and six years under section 27(1), along with a fine of Tk 30 million.
Dr. Zubaida Rahman was sentenced to three years in prison under section 27(1) and fined Tk 3.5 million. Her sentence was later suspended for one year by an executive order of the government.
On September 11, 2008, Dr. Zubaida left Bangladesh for London with her husband. After 17 years, she returned to Bangladesh on May 6 this year to be with her mother-in-law, Khaleda Zia.
