No scope for Tarique, Zubaida to fight legal battle from outside the country: AG

Staff Reporter  :
Attorney General AM Amin uddin has said BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman don’t have any chance to hire a lawyer to fight the legal battle as both of them are absconding in the eye of law.
The Attorney General made the comment while briefing to the journalists
in his office on Modnay. Amin Uddin said, “There is no example in the history of our judicial system of facing a case proceeding without appearing in court. Two brothers (Ron Haque Sikder and Rick Haque Sikder) applied for bail from outside the country during the Corona pandemic. The High Court didn’t hear their bail petitions.
On the contrary, the court fined them for submitting bail petitions from outside the country. Therefore, Tarique Rahman and Zubaida Rahman have no chance to fight the legal battle without surrendering or appearing in the court”.
However, Barrister Kayser Kamal, a counsel of Tarique and Zubaida and also legal affairs secretary of BNP, said the fundamental part here is that this case was filed for political purposes and it is still continuing for political purposes. The government has brought the case to this stage by using the state machinery to serve their political purpose.
A Dhaka Court on Sunday fixed April 13 to pass an order whether Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman have any chance to hire a lawyer to defend them in absentia in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Judge of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s Court in Dhaka, Md Asaduzzaman, set the date for passing an order on the issue.
On September 26, 2007, the anti-graft body filed the case with Kafrul Police Station against Tarique, his wife Zubaida and Zubaida’s mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing assets worth Tk 48.2 million through illegal means and concealing the information of Tk 21.6 million in their wealth statements.
The investigation officer of the case pressed charges against the three with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, Dhaka, on March 31, 2009. However, the trial proceedings against Iqbal Mand Banu were rescinded.
Earlier, Tarique was sentenced to life in jail in the August 21 grenade attack case. He was also sentenced to different terms in two other cases, including the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.