The High Court today acquitted BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman from a corruption case in which they were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for different terms by a lower court concerned. The HC bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman delivered the verdict following an appeal filed by Zubaida challenging the trial court verdict that sentenced her to three years’ imprisonment in the case in 2023.
The court came up with the judgement as the charges brought against them were not proved beyond reasonable doubt, their lawyer SM Shahjahan told reporters. Following today’s HC judgement, Tarique has been cleared from all the cases in which he had been convicted by the lower courts concerned, a pro-BNP lawyer requesting anonymity told FIRSTONN.
Lawyers SM Shahjahan, Kayser Kamal and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan appeared for Zubaida while lawyer Ashif Hassan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission. The bench on May 14 granted bail to Zubaida in this case after admitting her appeal for hearing.
The bail of Zubaida, who returned to Bangladesh on May 6 after 17 years from London, will continue until disposal of the appeal, it said. On August 2, 2023, a Dhaka court sentenced Tarique to nine years’ imprisonment and his wife to three years jail sentence in the corruption case.
On September 26, 2007, the ACC filed the case with Kafrul Police Station against the two and Zubaida’s mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu, on charges of amassing assets worth Tk 4.82 crore through “illegal” means and concealing the information of Tk 2.16 crore in their wealth statements.