A Dhaka court on Wednesday sentenced fugitive BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman to nine years in jail in a case filed over illegally amassing wealth and concealing property information.
According to the court sources, the court also sentenced his wife Zubaida Rahman to three years jail in the same graft case.
Besides, the court also ordered the seizure of Tk 2.74 crore worth of property owned by Tarique and Zubaida. Both the convicts are currently absconding in London.
Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossen Kajol said that the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman handed down the verdict in their absence. The court has issued new arrest warrants against them along with the sentence.
With his latest conviction, Tarique Rahman has been sentenced for the sixth time while Zobaida was sentenced in a case for the first time.
According to the verdict, Tarique Rahman has also been fined Tk 3 crore. Failure to pay the fine will result in a three-month extension of his imprisonment.
Furthermore, Zobaida Rahman has been fined Tk35 lakh, non-payment of which will result in a one-month extension of her jail sentence.
The judgement will come into effect after the convicts surrender to a court or are arrested.
The judge entered the courtroom after 3:15 pm and started reading out the judgment at 3:21 pm. The court sentenced the couple at around 4pm.
Security was beefed up in and around the court premises marking the pronouncement of the judgment in the case. Additional policemen were deployed, checking people to thwart any untoward incident.
Pro-BNP lawyers brought out processions on the court premises, staging demonstration since the morning. At one stage, pro-Awami League lawyers too brought out a procession in support of the trial, demanding highest punishment for the accused.
Tarique Rahman is in London since 2008 and is doing the same sort of crime that he committed from 2001 to 2006. Sitting in London, he is continuing extortion and doing committee trade.
Tarique Rahman, like his father, wanted to make Bangladesh another Pakistan. That is why various militant organizations like Bangla Bhai emerged under his patronage. Tarique started sponsoring Indian separatists with the advice and help of Pakistan. The big proof of this is the episode of 10 truckloads of weapons being smuggled into Bangladesh. Evidence of Tarique's association with Indian separatists, extremists and various militant organizations has emerged in US secret documents. Those documents were leaked out by WikiLeaks.
Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on September 26, 2007, filed a case against Tarique Rahman, his wife Zubaida Rahman and mother-in-law Iqbal-Mand Banu for amassing illegal wealth of Taka 4.81 crore and concealing information about the assets.
The anti-graft body filed the charge-sheet in 2008. Zubaida in 2008 filed a petition with the High Court, pleading to quash the proceedings of the case. The High Court in the same year stayed the proceedings of the case, which was later upheld by the Appellate Division.
The High Court after holding final hearing on the matter, cancelled the plea of Zubaida on April 12, 2017. It had also asked her to appear before the trial court concerned within eight weeks. Zubaida later filed a leave to appeal petition against the High Court order.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on April 13, 2022, scrapped Zubaida's leave to appeal petition and upheld the High Court order.
On November 1, 2022, the lower court concerned issued arrest warrants against the couple after accepting the charges pressed against them. On February 6, 2023, the court issued a gazette asking the couple to appear before the court.
The BNP acting chairman had earlier been convicted and sentenced in four cases in absentia. Tarique was sentenced to life imprisonment in August 21 grenade attack case, 10-year jail in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, seven years in jail in money laundering case and two-year imprisonment in a case for making remarks about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
