Zobaida Rahman's bail in asset disclosure case!

Dr. Zobaida Rahman, wife of BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, who was sentenced to three years in a case of asset disclosure and undeclared assets, has been granted bail by the High Court. At the same time, the court accepted the appeal filed against her sentence. On Wednesday (May 14), a single High Court bench of Justice Md. Khasruzzaman gave this order. Senior lawyer SM Shahjahan and Barrister Kaiser Kamal heard on behalf of Zobaida Rahman in the court. They were accompanied by Advocates Aminul Islam, Maqsud Ullah and Zakir Hossain.

Earlier, on Tuesday (May 13), an application was filed in the High Court due to the delay in filing an appeal against Zobaida Rahman's sentence. After the hearing, Justice Khasruzzaman's bench condoned the delay of 587 days and accepted the appeal. After that, her bail was granted on Wednesday.

On September 26, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against Tarique Rahman, his wife Dr. Zobaida Rahman and his mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu at Kafrul Police Station in Dhaka on charges of concealing information about assets and acquiring assets undeclared. After the trial of the case, the then Judge Md. Asaduzzaman of the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka announced the verdict on August 2, 2023. In the verdict, Tarique Rahman was sentenced to 3 years under Section 26(2) and 6 years under Section 27(1) of the ACC Act, totaling 9 years of imprisonment and a fine of Tk 3 crore, and Zobaida Rahman was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment and a fine of Tk 3.5 million under Section 27(1).

Meanwhile, a notification published in the Bangladesh Gazette on October 10, 2024 stated that in light of the opinion of the Law and Justice Department, Dr. Zobaida Rahman's sentence has been unconditionally suspended for one year to allow her to file an appeal in the court. This notification comes into effect from 22 September 2024.

After staying in the UK for 17 years, Zubaida Rahman returned to the country on 6 May this year. Upon her return, she appeared in court and filed an appeal and bail application. As per the court order, she is currently free on bail and the next hearing of the case now depends on the appeal court.