Court orders authorities to issue gazette asking Tarique, Zubaida to appear 6 Feb

A Dhaka Court on Thursday ordered the authorities concerned to issue a gazette asking opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman to appear before it on 6 February in a graft case filed against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), reports news agency BSS.

Judge Md. Asaduzzaman of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court gave the order after getting reports from Cantonment police station on execution of property attachment issued against the couple.

If they fail to comply with the court order, the trial against them will continue in their absence.

ACC court inspector Aminul Islam told BSS that the officer-in-charge of the Cantonment police station filed a report in the court saying that they did not receive any of the goods or any list regarding the properties.

The judge then ordered Tarique and Zubaida to appear in court, and ordered the authorities concerned to publish the order as a gazette as the next step of the case, he added.

On 5 January this year, a court ordered police to confiscate moveable and immovable properties of the couple and asked Cantonment police station officer-in-charge to submit a progress report on implementation of the order of confiscating properties by 19 January.

According to the case statement, on 26 September in 2007, the ACC lodged the case with Kafrul police station for amassing properties worth Tk 48,153,561 through illegal means and concealing information in wealth statements.