Inform whether summons reached Tarique’s address: HC

The High Court today asked the chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka to inform it by April 6 whether the summons on BNP leader Tarique Rahman in a money laundering case has reached his London address.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain passed the order while dealing with a prayer moved by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to fix a date for hearing its appeal against Tarique’s acquittal in the case involving Tk 20.41 crore.

The anti-graft watchdog filed the case against Tarique and his friend and business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun in October 2009 for siphoning off the money to Singapore between 2003 and 2007.

On November 17, 2013, a Dhaka court acquitted Tarique and sentenced Mamun to seven years’ imprisonment and fined him Tk 40 crore in the case.

On December 5 that year, the ACC appealed to the HC, challenging Tarique’s acquittal.

The HC on January 19, 2014 ordered Tarique to surrender before the trial court in connection with the case and also asked the trial court to grant him bail after his surrender.

But, Tarique did not surrender to the lower court, ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star yesterday.

The chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka will inform the HC about reaching the summons notice to Tarique’s address after collecting information through the foreign ministry, he added.

The HC on January 12 this year directed its registrar to issue a notice asking Tarique, now in London, to surrender before the trial court by February 14 in the case as per its January 19, 2014 order. The ACC then prayed to the HC to fix a date for hearing its appeal against Tarique’s acquittal.

The money laundering case is one of the 16 cases, including the August 21 grenade attack cases, filed against Tarique. He was arrested on March 7 in 2007 during a crackdown by a military-backed caretaker government.

After securing parole, Tarique went to London in September 2008 for treatment and has been living there ever since.