Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday alleged the conviction of its senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman in a money-laundering case scrapping his lower court acquittal is contrary to justice.

The party also said it will appeal against the High Court verdict when Tarique Rahman will be back home from the UK as there is no time constraint to do it in a criminal case.

‘This punishment goes against justice. The High Court unilaterally convicted him as no lawyer could give any statement in the court in favour of Tarique Rahman since he was shown fugitive in the case,’ said BNP Chairperson’s adviser Khandker Mahbub Hossain.

He came up with the remarks at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.

Mahbub, also former president of Supreme Court Bar Association, said the government punished Tarique with a motive to politically harass him and malign him. ‘The only offence of Tarique is he is a political leader, son of Ziaur Rahman and BNP’s future leader.’

He said the trial court had acquitted their leader based on evidence and statements of witness.

‘The High Court punished him in his absence. As no lawyer could move in his favour, he was convicted as a corrupt tying his hands and legs.’

He urged the government to come to the streets instead of moving to the court to entertain its political vengeance. ‘Investigate the case properly by right persons and the right way. If you try to convict any one through the backdoor, the rule of law will be destroyed and people will lose their confidence in the judiciary.’

The High Court on Thursday sentenced BNP senior vice-chairman Tarique Rahman to seven years’ imprisonment and fined him Tk 20 crore scrapping his acquittal in the money laundering case.

On 17 November, 2013, a Dhaka court acquitted Tarique while sentenced his friend and business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun to seven years along with a fine of Tk 40 crore in the ACC case filed for illegally sending Tk20.41 crore to Singapore between 2003 and 2007.

Asked whether they will appeal against the HC verdict, Mahbub said Tarique cannot appeal until he appears before the court returning home as per the law.

‘Tarique Rahman will surely be back home in due time and appeal against it. We’ll prove the case was unlawful and ensure justice for him. I believe people will know one day that the government has punished him illegally to entertain its political vengeance,’ he added.

As his attention was drawn to the Law Minister’s comment that BNP had influenced the lower court, he said, ‘You can consider how much the government can influence the court when BNP can do it.’

Party standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, ASM Hannan Shah, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, vice chairman Abdullah Al Noman, senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi and joint secretary general Mahbubuddin Khokan were, among others, present.