Try two witnesses along with Hafiz, wife

The Supreme Court has directed a Dhaka court to try two witnesses of a money laundering case--Julfikar Ali and his wife Rahima Ali--as its accused along with BNP lawmaker Hafiz Ibrahim and his wife.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case with Gulshan Police Station on August 16, 2011 against the lawmaker and his wife Mafruza Sultana for laundering US $1.75 lakh to Singapore.

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According to the case statement, the money was paid allegedly by Siemens Bangladesh Ltd to the duo's bank account in Singapore between 2005 and 2006 to help the company win a deal of supplying core telecommunications equipment to Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL).

The money was allegedly transferred from the joint account of Julfikar and Rahima to the account of Hafiz and Mafruza in Singapore, Mafruza's lawyer AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon told The Daily Star.

Julfikar, who is an agent of Siemens Bangladesh, was also a witness of the money laundering cases against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's sons Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko and Tarique's business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun, he added.

The SC passed the order in a full verdict, which was released on May 25 and was received by the lawyers yesterday.

The apex court issued a short judgment on April 12 after disposing of an appeal filed by Mafruza against a High Court verdict that on February 20 last year cleared the way for holding trial against Mafruza and her husband.