Fakhrul blasts Somoy TV for report on conviction of Khaleda, Tarique

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

Dhaka, Jan 26 -Amidst several recent media reports quoting Transparency International Bangladesh’s Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman as saying that keeping Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman – sentenced by the court – in BNP’s top leadership “contradicts” the party’s 27-point outline for state reform, which includes stance against corruption, and is a sign of “moral decay”, BNP’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has blasted Somoy TV for running such a story on the issue, reports UNB.

“That report on our leaders — Tarique Rahman and Begum Zia — is like back-stabbing our democratic movement against the government. As we continue our movement to restore democracy, they should abstain from airing such reports,” Fakhrul said about Somoy TV at a press conference.

This development comes after a Somoy TV journalist filed a complaint against BNP activists for “assaulting” him when he was covering the party’s rally held in Nayapaltan, Dhaka on January 16, 2023.

The Somoy TV report that has drawn the ire of the BNP leader highlights that both Tarique Rahman and Khaleda Zia were sentenced in courts. 

It also features the TIB executive director observing that BNP is talking about taking a bold position against corruption and at the same time running the party with convicts in top leadership, the report says.

The report mostly dwells on the fate of the party under the circumstances. The report however fails to note, as has the TIB Executive Director, that the BNP leaders were tried and sentenced in fictitious cases filed under the military-backed caretaker government of 2007-2008. All cases filed under that government against leaders of the ruling party were dropped subsequently on the ground that they were politically motivated. When this fact is stated, the TIB ED's comments on conviction of the two top BNP leaders unfortunately fails the test of accuracy. A TI man is not expected to make strong comments viewing cases and their convictions on their surfaces only. He is expected to go down deep into the bottom of those. Otherwise his analysis fails the test of objectivity and neutrality. Unfortunately this is the case here with Dr. Iftekharuzzaman who has failed to see the present and the future for his obsession with a one-eyed view of the past.

Referring to BNP’s 27 points, the TIB executive director had earlier wondered whether the party had the capacity to implement them.

The UNB report states, “Considering BNP’s history and its experience with people of the country, it can be said that political parties make manifestos. When they come to power, the picture is different, however. In that sense, this is a wish list. Although, many of the issues mentioned are important for Bangladesh,” he said.

In November, 2011, an FBI agent testified in the Tk 20.41 crore money-laundering case filed against BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman and his business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun. This was the first time that a US FBI agent testified before a court in Bangladesh, the report says.

Here the report fails to note that a money laundering case against Giasuddin Al-Mamun and Tarique Rahman was tried not in a distant past in a special court in Dhaka. The trial court convicted Mamun but aquitted Tarique Rahman. To be objective the report should have mentioned this and narrate the story of his subsequent conviction which has been termed 'controversial'.

Khaleda Zia was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by a special court in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. The higher court later extended the term to 10 years but the UNB report says she was convicted in a second case.

Amid the pandemic, the government suspended her jail term for six months through an executive order on March 25, 2020. The government extended her conditional release in the two corruption cases several times, the report adds.