Bangladesh
Corruption Case ACC expecting Zubaida Rahman's punishment as Tarique Rahman's accomplice
Own Correspondent, Dhaka, 1 August 2023: Tarique Rahman's wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman has assisted the BNP Acting Chairman to conceal wealth information and acquire wealth outside of known income. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer, who is handling the case for the state, claimed that he was able to prove the charge against Tarique-Zubaida based on all the evidence.
Tomorrow, Wednesday (August 2), Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court Md. Asaduzzaman will announce the verdict in this case. The ACC is expecting a maximum sentence of 13 years in prison.
Earlier, Tarique Rahman was sentenced to different terms of imprisonment in four separate cases. Several other cases are pending against him. However, pro-BNP lawyers said this is the first and only judgment in Zubaida's case.
In 2013, Tarique Rahman was first acquitted by the Dhaka court in the money laundering case. However, after the prosecution appealed against him, the High Court ordered seven years imprisonment.
Five years later, in February 2018, Tarique was sentenced to prison along with Khaleda Zia in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case.
Khaleda was sentenced to five years in prison, Tarique was sentenced to 10 years. Later, on October 10, 2018, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment in the verdict of the August 1st grenade attack case. He was sentenced to life imprisonment three times, fined two lakh taka in each of the two cases of murder and explosives Act under several sections. He was also sentenced to 20 years imprisonment under another section of the Explosives Act. However, as all the sentences were mentioned to run concurrently, the judgment referred to life sentence for Tarique.
Last, on February 4, 2021, the court sentenced Tarique Rahman to two years' imprisonment in a defamation case filed in Narail on charges of making defamatory comments about Bangabandhu. He was also fined 10,000 taka, and sentenced to another six months in prison in default of payment.
ACC Public Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajal said, "His wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman has assisted BNP Acting Chairman Tariq Rahman to conceal wealth information and acquire assets outside known income. We have filed all the evidence against them under Section 26(2) and 27(1) of the ACC Act. We have been able to prove the allegations. Section 26 (2) provides for a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment and Section 27(1) provides a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. We expect the maximum punishment of both the laws after presenting the arguments.”
