A Dhaka Court, on Sunday, issued an arrest warrant against BNP senior vice chairman Tarrique Rahman, in connection with a money-laundering case.
The case was filed against the BNP leader during the tenure of the army-backed caretaker government. However, Tarique had secured bail and left for the United Kingdom for “medical treatment” on September 11, 2008. The court also directed the government to take necessary steps to bring the BNP leader back with the help of the Interpol.
Mohammad Mozammel Haque, acting judge of the Special Court-3, passed the orders in response to a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The court also asked the government to issue an English version of the arrest warrant to the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), commonly known as the Interpol.
The court asked the foreign ministry to take necessary steps for bringing Tarique back home in cooperation with the British foreign ministry.
ACC’s lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol filed the petition seeking the issuance of an arrest warrant against Tarique Rahman, in connection with the case. The petition also sought a court directive, so that the government could seek the Interpol’s help to bring the fugitive back to the country.
Following the court order, ACC chairman Ghulam Rahman said that the arrest warrant was issued in accordance with the law as the ACC did not favour or disfavour any political person.
The court passed the orders after concluding its hearing on the petition.
In the petition, the prosecution also mentioned that they came to know from media reports that Tarique was now staying in London.
During today’s proceedings of the court, Tarique Rahman’s lawyer partially cross-examined Bibhutibhushan Sarkar, the tenth prosecution witness in the case. Bibhutibhushan is a senior executive officer of the Cantonment Branch of Sonali Bank.
Later, the court fixed May 29 for the cross-examination of the rest of the prosecution witnesses by the defence lawyer.
On October 26, 2009, ACC deputy director M Ibrahim had filed the case against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique, and his ally and business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun, with Cantonment Police Station, under the Money Laundering Act, accusing them of siphoning off over Tk. 20.43 crore to Singapore. According to the case statement, Tarique and Mamun removed the money to the Capital Street branch of Singapore City Bank, between 2003 and 2007.
On August 8, 2011, a Dhaka court first issued a warrant against Tarique as he remained fugitive since the filing of the case. Mamun is now in custody.
M Ibrahim, investigating officer of the case, submitted the charge-sheet on July 6, 2010.
Tarique, now in London, was detained on March 7, 2007, and was allowed to travel abroad for “treatment” in July the following year. He faces 16 cases for laundering money and grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21, 2004.
Tarique went to London on the condition of not participating in any political activities during his stay there.
Of late, Tarique has become a topic of political discussions after he attended a programme in East London on 20 May, in which he asked party supporters to launch a stronger movement for toppling the government. Tarique also asked the partymen to launch an intensive movement, so that the government is forced to hold the next general election under a caretaker government.
He appealed to Bangladeshi expatriates to pile pressure on the current government on this issue.
Soon after this, Awami League leaders came down heavily on his political statements.
Addressing a press briefing at the Gulshan office of BNP in the evening, advocate Sanaullah Miah, the leaders of the legal team of BNP read out the order of the lower court on the arrest of senior BNP vice-chairman Tarique Rahman and said the assistance of Interpol in this regard was not mentioned anywhere in the court order.
He claimed the statement of the public prosecutor regarding the court-ordered assistance of Interpol for the arrest of Tarique Rahman is false.
-With The Independent input
