High Court makes ACC a party to ruling in wealth case against BNP leader Tarique’s wife Zubaida

The High Court has included the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) as a party to an earlier ruling on an appeal by Zubaida Rahman regarding a case accusing her of concealing wealth information.

The bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan on Thursday heard the ACC plea for inclusion in its rule on the appeal by the wife of BNP Senior Vice Chairman Taique Rahman.

“We have been included as a party, we will appeal for a hearing on the rule next week,” Md Khurshid Alam Khan, who stood for the ACC, said to bdnews24.com.

Lodging the appeal on Wednesday, Alam said the case stalled due to the High Court ruling and that they wanted a hearing. “We had filed the application for inclusion as it is required to take part in the hearing.”

The national anti-corruption agency lodged a case with Kafrul police on Sep 26, 2007 accusing the BNP stalwart’s wife and mother-in-law, Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu, of concealing Tk 48.15 million wealth and providing false information.

The chargesheet was submitted on Mar 31, 2008 accusing Zubaida of aiding Tarique to illegally piling up wealth by allowing him to open two FDRs in her name, each valued at Tk 3.5 million.

Based on her plea, the High Court, on Apr 8 that year, stalled proceedings in the case for two months. The case has been in the cold since.

Zubaida also did not mention the commission as a party in her plea, leading the ACC to make its own plea for inclusion.