BNP acting chairman Tarique, his wife face arrest warrants

A Dhaka court on Tuesday issued warrants for the arrest of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Asaduzzaman court passed the order after taking the chargesheet against them into cognisance.

The court also directed the officer-in-charge (OC) of Cantonment police station to submit a progress report regarding the arrest warrant on January 5 next year.

On June 26, High court ordered the judicial court to dispose of the case as soon as possible.

The HC also rejected the couple's writ petitions challenging the corruption case against them for acquiring wealth beyond their known sources of income and concealing wealth in their affidavits.

As both of them remained fugitive, the court rejected the writ petitions of the duo saying these are not acceptable, he said.

The court also withdrew the stay order on the trial proceedings of the case filed against them.

On September 26, 2007, the ACC lodged a complaint with Kafrul Police against Tarique Rahman, Zubaida and her mother Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing illegal wealth of Tk 4.81 crore and concealing the information.

In the same year, the High Court issued a rule suspending the trial proceedings in the case after hearing a petition filed by Zubaida.

The HC rejected the rule in 2017 and asked her to surrender before the court within eight weeks, reports UNB.