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Published : 07 Nov 2013, 06:59 PM
Concluding the argument in the case on Thursday, Anti-Corruption Commission lawyer Mosharraf Hossain Kajol told bdnews24.com: “I hope the verdict will come this month.”
After Thursday’s hearing, Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court Justice Motahar Hossain set Monday for the defence to begin its counter argument.
Sons of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia – Tarique and Arafat Rahman Coco – were both sued on money laundering charges.
Coco has already been handed down a six-year imprisonment in a case. His trial was held in absentia.
He is currently in Thailand, while his elder brother Tarique is in the UK.
Defence counsel Masud Ahmed Talukder told reporters, “The government is trying to finish the trial process with a political motive.”
On the other hand, Kajol said, “The defence has been trying without success to defer the verdict to gain political advantage.”
The Tarique’s trial and that of his businessman friend Giasuddin-Al-Mamun had begun on July 6, 2010, after the ACC filed the charge-sheet at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.
The ACC had lodged the case against the brothers at the Dhaka Cantonment Police Station on Oct 26, 2009, accusing them of siphoning off Tk 204.1 million to Singapore between 2003 and 2007.
On Aug 8 last year, the court indicted Tarique and Mamun under the Money Laundering Act 2002, issuing an arrest warrant against Tarique.
The state began its argument on Oct 24 this year after the deposition of prosecution and defence witnesses.
State counsel Kajol said, “We have successfully proved the charges. We demand the highest punishment for Tarique Rahman and Giasuddin-Al-Mamun.”
According to the case details, Mamun took Tk 204.1 million as a bribe from from Khadiza Islam, Director of Nirman Construction Ltd, promising him the contract of building an 80MW power plant at Tongi.
Mamun allegedly deposited the money in the Capital Street Branch of Singapore’s City Bank, from where Tarique withdrew Tk 30.78 million.
Kajol told the court that Mamun had taken advantage of his friendship with Tarique and laundered the money, evading local bank scrutiny.
He said they also pleaded with the court to order the Foreign Secretary to inform it whether the arrest warrant for Tarique, who is absconding, had been executed.
A Dhaka court in May this year had ordered Tarique’s arrest with Interpol help.
Several cases were lodged accusing the elder son of Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia. Tarique was arrested on Mar 7, 2007, during the state of emergency.
But he secured bail from the Supreme Court and left for London with his family on Sept 11, 2007. He has been living there since.
One of his lawyers, Joynal Abedin Mejbah, told bdnews24.com that 16 cases and a general diary were pending against Tarique.
Five of them are awaiting trial. The Zia Orphanage Trust graft case, two cases over the Aug 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally in 2004, and a loan default case filed by Sonali Bank against his clothing company Dandy Dyeing are pending against Tarique.
Tarique has been acquitted in one of the 16 cases and the GD complaint, said Mejbah. Trials in the other 10 cases are currently on hold following a High Court order.
