Tarique\\\'s mother-in-law may face graft charge

The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) is going to file a case against Syeda Iqbal Mando Banu, mother-in-law of BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman, on charge of failure to submit wealth statement to the commission in time.

The decision was taken in a regular meeting of ACC Tuesday and the case will be filed soon, the anti-graft watchdog officials told the reporters.

Sources said, on January 25 in 2012, the ACC issued a notice to Iqbal Banu asking her to submit wealth statement. In response to the notification, she filed a writ petition with the High Court (HC) against the notice and the court issued a stay order on the issue.

Later on, a civil petition for leave to appeal was submitted before the chamber judge of the Appellate Division (AD) on behalf of the ACC and the judgment was in favour of the commission.

On May 29 in 2007, an order was issued asking Tarique Rahman to submit his wealth statement. After issuance of the order, Tarique submitted his wealth statement.

On September 26 the same year, the commission filed a case with Kafrul Police Station in the capital city against Tarique Rahman, his wife Dr Zobaida Rahman and his mother-in-law Syeda Iqbal Mando Banu.

An FDR (Fixed Deposit Receipt) of Tk 3.5 million in Zobaida Rahman's name was found in the undisclosed wealth amounting to Tk 4.81 million. Tarique claimed the FDR amount was given to his wife by his mother-in-law. Investigation carried out by the ACC, however, found Tarique's claim false, said the ACC officials.

ACC sources said the commission has taken the decision of filling the case as part of investigation into the cases filed against Tarique Rahman.