High Court releases full verdict in Tarique's money laundering case

The verdict also upheld a seven-year conviction for Tarique’s friend and business partner Gias Uddin Al Mamun, but lowered his fine to Tk20 crore, half of what was originally fixed by the trial court on November 17, 2013. The verdict by the High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Amir Hossain was delivered on July 21 this year that scrapped a lower court verdict which acquitted Tarique in the money laundering case involving Tk 20.41 crore. In the 82-page full text, the High Court commented on Tarique’s  acquittal by the trial court, saying that the trial judge himself made a defense on behalf of the absconding accused Rahman and thereby committed serious error of law in acquitting the accused. Moreover, the lower court judge misread and misconstrued the definition of ‘Money Laundering’ as defined in the Money Laundering Act 2002, it said. The money laundering case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in October 2009 against them for laundering money to Singapore between 2003 and 2007 after illegally obtaining the money. From this amount, Tarique relied on “deceitful means” to use a supplementary credit card on different dates and spent Tk3.78 crore for his treatment and shopping in Singapore between 2003 and 2006. Khadiza Islam, as a prosecution witness had told the trial court that Mamun demanded money  to award a work order to M/S Harbin Power Engineering Company of China, where she was a local agent, for the construction of an eighty (80) MW capacity power station in Tongi. The awarding process was be done through Tarique Rahman. Khadija and three others transferred the money to Mamun’s account with the City Bank NA in  Singapore on various occasions. In 2008 the then Ad-Interim Government of Bangladesh requested the assistance of the United States and US sent representative to Dhaka to obtain information regarding bribery cases. During the trial at the lower court, an FBI agent Debra La Prevotte had testified that two credit cards were found from two accounts of Mamun in Singapore. One was in the name of Mamun and other in the name of Tarique Rahman. Photostat copy of Tarique’s passport was submitted to City Bank Singapore to obtain the second Visa Card. Tarique’s Credit Card was used to pay his travel expenses to visit Athens, Frankfurt, Singapore, Bangkok & Dubai along with shopping and meet medical expenditures. The High Court in full text of judgment observed that ordinary businessman Mamun had no authority to interfere with the internal affairs and works of the ministry. “Mamun made it possible as he was the close friend and business partner of accused Rahman and obviously, Mamun’s source of such ‘supernatural power’ was the accused Rahman, son of the then Prime Minister,” the court observed.