HC overturns jail sentences of Tarique Rahman, Zubaida

The High Court has overturned the jail sentences of BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman, acquitting them in an Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) case over illicit wealth.

A single High Court bench of Justice Md. Khasruzzaman on Wednesday delivred the verdict accepting Dr. Zubaida Rahman's appeal against the trial court's three-year prison sentence.

The lawyers said that with this verdict, Tarique-Zubaida couple has been acquitted in all cases filed against them.

On May 13, the High Court granted Zubaida a 587-day delay in his appeal and accepted the appeal for hearing it on May 14. At the same time, she was granted bail with the fine suspended until the appeal is disposed of.

On Monday (May 26), lawyers SM Shahjahan, Kaiser Kamal and Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan heard the appeal. Lawyer Asif Hasan was on behalf of the ACC while Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Abdul Karim stood on behalf of the state.

The ACC filed a case against Tarique Rahman, Zubaida Rahman and his mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu at the capital's Kafrul Police Station on September 26, 2007, on charges of concealing information about assets and acquiring assets undeclared. On August 2, 2023, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md. Asaduzzaman's court sentenced Tarique Rahman to a total of nine years in prison under two sections and his wife Dr. Zubaida Rahman to three years in prison for acquiring assets undeclared.

In the verdict, Tarique Rahman was sentenced to three years in prison under Section 26(2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act, 2004 and was fined Tk30million. The court sentenced Zubaida Rahman to three years in prison and a fine of Tk3.5 million under Section 27(1). Later, on an appeal, her sentence was suspended for one year by the government's executive order.

On September 11, 2008, Dr. Zubaida Rahman went to London with her husband Tarique Rahman. After 17 years, she returned home with her mother-in-law Khaleda Zia on May 6.