Tarique, Zubaida could be sentenced by govt’s ‘blue print’, apprehends Fakhrul

Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman could be convicted as per a “blue print” of the government, apprehends the party’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

“The government has begun conspiracies anew. But even if Tarique Rahman is sentenced, it won’t affect the ongoing movement of BNP,” he added.

Mirza Fakhrul was addressing an emergency media conference at the party’s headquarters in Naya Paltan, Dhaka, on Tuesday.

The defence and state have completed placing their arguments in the court in a case filed against Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman on charges of acquiring wealth beyond known sources of income.

The court has set 2 August as the date to pronounce verdict in the case.

“Following the course of incidents in the last few days, we are apprehending that an arrangement will be made to sentence BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman as per the government’s blue print. The date of verdict of the case has been fixed by taking depositions at a special court in Dhaka unbelievably hastily. Despite hundreds of thousands of cases in logjams in the country, depositions of 42 people were recorded in just 16 days in this case. Sometimes one-sided depositions were taken until 8:00-9:00 at night,” he alleged.

The BNP secretary general claimed that there is no merit to run this case against Tarique Rahman and Zubaida Rahman.

He said Tarique Rahman’s wealth statement was submitted in 2007. The income tax of that wealth was also paid. The allegation against Zubaida Rahman is she has an FDR (Fixed Deposit Receipt) of Tk 3.5 million. But the tax return against that FDR was paid in the previous financial year of the filing date of the case.

Alleging that an “camera trial” has been run in the name of justice, Mirza Fakhrul said, “When our lawyers raised questions regarding legitimacy of such case proceedings, police and governing party’s lawyers swooped on them several times. They were expelled from the court room.”

Claiming that the government has prepared a list of senior leaders of BNP, he alleged letters have been issued to complete proceedings of cases filed against them soon so that they cannot contest in election. Party’s standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and chairperson’s advisory panel’s member Amanullah Aman have already been sentenced.

Senior leader of the de facto opposition also claimed that Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is the government’s subservient organisation. “ACC has turned into a opposition suppression commission, he added.

Asked, Mirza Fakhrul said even if Tarique Rahman is sentenced, it won’t affect the ongoing movement. “Nothing will happen with this verdict as people have realised everything.”

ACC filed the case against three people including Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman with Kafrul police station on 26 September 2007 on charges of hiding wealth information and acquiring wealth beyond known sources of income.

A charge sheet was submitted at the court the next year. The court framed charges against Tarique Rahman and Zubaida Rahman on 13 April this year.