The Appellate Division on Thursday acquitted BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun in a money laundering case.
A four-member tribunal headed by Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed passed the order, said the defendants’ lawyer, Advocate Md Maksud Ullah.
Earlier, on Tuesday, the court set March 6 for delivering its verdict after concluding a hearing on the appeal against their conviction.
On December 10 last year, the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal in the case following a petition by Mamun.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on October 26, 2009 at Cantonment police station in Dhaka, accusing Mamun of laundering Tk20.41 crore to Singapore.
According to the case statement, Mamun received the amount from Khadija Islam, chairman of Nirman Construction Company Ltd, in exchange for awarding the contract for an 80MW power plant in Tongi.
The money was transferred to a Citibank NA account in Singapore under Mamun’s name.
On July 6, 2010, the ACC pressed charges against Tarique and Mamun.
The court framed charges against them on August 8, 2011.
During the trial, testimonies from 13 witnesses, including FBI agent Debra Laprovette, were recorded.
On November 17, 2013, Dhaka Special Judge’s Court 3 acquitted Tarique Rahman but sentenced Mamun to seven years in jail along with a Tk40 crore fine.
Following the verdict, the ACC filed an appeal on December 5, 2013 against Tarique Rahman’s acquittal.
The High Court accepted the appeal for a hearing on January 19, 2014.
After hearing both appeals, the High Court, on July 21, 2016, sentenced Tarique to seven years in jail and fined him Tk20 crore while also upholding Mamun’s conviction.
Mamun later challenged the High Court verdict in the Appellate Division.
