Palli News Dex: BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarek Rahman has been sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the High Court after finding him guilty in the money laundering case. At the same time, he was fined 20 crore rupees. At the same time, he ordered the judicial court to issue a sentence warrant against the fugitive Tariq Rahman.
The High Court has upheld the seven-year prison sentence of Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun in the same case. However, the fine imposed by the judicial court has been reduced from Tk 40 crore to Tk 20 crore.
The High Court bench of Justice M Inayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain announced the verdict on Thursday (July 21).
The High Court allowed the appeal filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against the acquittal of Tarek by the trial court and dismissed the appeal of Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun against the sentence.
The court directed the ACC to take action against four persons including Chairman of Hosaf Group Mohammad Moazzem Hossain and Chairman of Nirman Construction Company Limited Khadija Islam for assisting in money laundering.
On May 25, the hearing of the two appeals of ACC and Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun started together. After the hearing of 12 working days, the judgment of this case was kept pending on June 16.
Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan appeared for the ACC.
Tariq Rahman had no lawyer as he was absconding. However, Barrister Fakhrul Islam participated in the hearing on behalf of Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun, who was convicted in the case.
On January 19, 2014, the High Court ordered Tariq Rahman to surrender to the judicial court after the ACC's appeal against the verdict acquitting him in the money laundering case. But he has not surrendered till date.
After that, the case came on the agenda in view of the application of the ACC, and on January 12, the High Court ordered the publication of a notice in the newspaper to surrender to the judicial court again.
After that, the High Court Department issued notices in two newspapers on January 20 and 21 to inform Tariq Rahman about the surrender and appeal. The court also sent summons notices to two addresses (London and Dhaka) in the charge sheet.
On November 17, 2013, the Third Special Judge Court of Dhaka acquitted Tariq Rahman and sentenced his friend Gias Uddin Al Mamun to 7 years imprisonment in the money laundering case.
In addition to the prison sentence, Mamun was also fined Tk 40 crore. The court also ordered confiscation of Tk 20 crore 41 lakh 25 thousand 613 in favor of the state.
ACC appealed against this judgment on December 5 of that year. On January 19, 2014, Justice Nizamul Haque and Justice Md. accepted the appeal and ordered Tariq Rahman to surrender in the judicial court. Jahangir Hossain High Court Bench.
After that, the ACC filed a request to fix the date of hearing in the High Court on January 3. In view of this application, the High Court ordered to issue a summons notice against Tarek on January 12.
After that, notices have been issued through the Bangladesh High Commission in London, by publishing circulars in newspapers on various court orders. Still he did not comply with the court order.
On 26 October 2009, the ACC filed this case at the Cantonment Police Station of the capital. Then on July 6, 2010, a charge sheet was filed in the court accusing Tarek Rahman and Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun.
On August 8, 2011, the court formed charges against them in this case.
Testimony began on September 11, 2011.
Thirteen witnesses testified in the case, including US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Debra Leprovet as a witness outside the charge sheet.
It has been alleged in the case that Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun took Tk 20 crore 41 lakh 25 thousand 843 from Khadija Islam, chairman of Nirman Construction Company Limited, for the construction of the proposed 80 MW power plant in Tongi. This money is traded in Singapore.
Mamun then deposited the money at City Bank NA in Capital Street, Singapore as the bank in his name. It has been alleged in the case that Tariq Rahman spent Tk 3 crore 78 lakh out of this amount.
