Photo: Collected-
Metropolis Report-
In a corruption case brought by the Anti-Corruption Commission, a Dhaka court today ordered the police to seize the moveable and immovable properties of BNP acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife, Zubaida Rahman. The Police were ordered by the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court to report on the order’s implementation by January 19.
On the allegations against them, the same court issued arrest warrants for the pair on November 1 last year. The High Court designated Tarique and Zubaida fugitives on June 26 of last year and dismissed their writ petitions contesting the filing of the graft case.
The HC also revoked a stay order on the lawsuit brought during the caretaker administration in 2007 and instructed the relevant lower court to finish the trial processes expeditiously. Trial proceedings against Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu, Tarique’s mother-in-law, were withdrawn.
Since 2008, Tarique and Zubaida have resided in London. On September 26, 2007, the anti-graft organization reported Tarique, his wife Zubaida, and Zubaida’s mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu to the Kafrul Police Station for illegally acquiring assets totaling Tk 4.82 crore and omitting Tk 2.16 crore from their wealth declarations.
On March 31, 2009, the investigating officer filed charges against the three with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka. In a previous case involving a grenade attack on August 21, Tarique received a life sentence. He was also given various sentences in two further trials, including the graft case involving the Zia Orphanage Trust.