HC judge feels embarrassed to hear Zubaida's plea

A judge of a High Court bench today felt embarrassed to hear a petition filed by Zubaida Rahman, wife of BNP leader Tarique Rahman, for quashing the proceedings of a corruption case against her in 2008.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan ordered its officials to send the petition to the chief justice for an appropriate decision.

Justice Enayetur Rahim told the open court that one of them felt embarrassed to hear the petition.

The senior judge of the bench, however, did not disclose the name of the judge who felt embarrassed and the reasons behind the feeling.

Deputy Attorney General Shaikh AKM Moniruzzaman Kabir told The Daily Star that after receiving the petition, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha might assign another HC bench for its hearing.

On September 26, 2008, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case with Kafrul Police Station against Senior Vice Chairman of BNP Tarique, who is now in London, his wife Zubaida and mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu for amassing assets through illegal means and concealing information in the wealth statement.

Investigation officer of the case pressed charges against the three at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka, on March 31, 2009. Fifty-seven people were shown as prosecution witnesses.

According to the charge sheet, Tarique has accumulated wealth worth around Tk 2.75 crore beyond his known sources of income and held back information about assets worth around Tk 2.17 crore in his statement to the anti-graft body.

Zubaida and her mother were accused of aiding and abetting Tarique.

Following a petition filed by Zubaida, the HC on April 8, 2009, stayed the proceedings of the case against her and issued a rule asking the ACC to explain as to why the proceedings against her should not be scrapped.

Following a prayer moved by ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan, the petition came up in the hearing list of the HC.