The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed seven-year jail sentence of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman and businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun in a case lodged over money laundering.
A four-member apex court bench, headed by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, passed the order granting a leave to appeal petition filed against the High Court judgment.
鈥楾he High Court convicted and sentenced him, whereas the lower court concerned had acquitted him in the case. We had filed the leave to appeal petition against the High Court judgment. Today [Tuesday] the apex court granted that plea, staying the High Court judgment as well. The court asked both the parties to submit the summaries of our plea by December 31,鈥� Tarique Rahman鈥檚 counsel Kaiser Kamal said.
The High Court on July 21, 2016, sentenced Tarique Rahman to seven-year imprisonment and fined him Tk 20 crore, scraping his sentence of acquittal in a money laundering case.
A High Court division bench comprising justices M Enayetur Rahim and Amir Hossain passed the order, repealing a lower court order that had acquitted the BNP leader in the case.
The court, however, upheld the lower court sentence of seven-year imprisonment for Giasuddin Al Mamun while commuting his fine of Tk 40 crore to Tk 20 crore.
According to the case document, Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against Tarique and Mamun for taking more than Tk 20 crore as bribe and laundered it abroad.
Dhaka 3rd special judge Md Motahar Hossain on November 17, 2013, acquitted Tarique from the charges and sentenced Mamun to seven-year imprisonment and fined him Tk 40 crore.
The commission filed an appeal against Tarique鈥檚 acquittal on December 5, 2013. Mamun also filed an appeal against the lower court sentence.
