Graft case: Tarique Jailed for 9 Years, Zubaida 3 Years

In a fraud case brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2007, a Dhaka court convicted interim BNP leader Tarique Rahman to nine years in jail and his wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman to three years.

The verdict was delivered by Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman.

During the session, attorney Mosharraf Hossain Kajal participated in arguments on behalf of the ACC.

However, as the defendants have already fled, no attorney was present to represent them.

On July 24, after questioning 43 of the 56 witnesses, the court finished taking testimony.

On April 13, the court framed the accusations against the defendants and the trial against them commenced.

On November 1, 2022, the court had already issued Tarique Rahman and Zubaida arrest warrants.

The High Court commanded the court to decide the matter as soon as possible on June 26.

The couple's writ petitions, which contested the corruption case against them for amassing riches beyond their known sources of income and lying in their affidavits, were also denied by the HC.

The court denied the writ applications, declaring that they are not admissible as both of them are still at large.

The court also revoked the directive to halt the trial procedures in the complaint brought against them.

In order to stop Tarique Rahman, Zubaida, and her mother Iqbal Mand Banu from accumulating unlawful riches totaling Tk 4.81 crore and hiding it, ACC filed a complaint with the Kafrul police on September 26, 2007.

After hearing a petition submitted by Zubaida, the High Court decided to stop the trial procedures in the case the same year.

In 2017, the HC rejected the rule and ordered her to appear in court within eight weeks.