Govt suspends Zubaida Rahman’s jail term for 1 year in graft case

The government has suspended the jail term of Zubaida Rahman, wife of Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman, for one year on condition of filing an appeal upon her surrender in a corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The Ministry of Home Affairs Wednesday issued a circular in this regard signed by its deputy secretary Md. Abu Sayed Molla.

The circular said the decision has been taken by the senior special judge, Dhaka, as per section 401 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The move follows an application from Zubaida Rahman seeking the suspension of her sentence, with approval from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

A Dhaka court in August last year sentenced Zubaida Rahman to three years in prison, and her husband Tarique Rahman to nine years in absentia in a corruption case lodged by the ACC with Kafrul police station on 26 September 2007.

Zubaida Rahman’s mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu also was an accused in the graft case filed on charges of amassing assets worth Tk 48.2 million illegally and concealing Tk 21.6 million in wealth statements.