The Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in Bangladesh has acquitted BNP’s acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, and businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun from a seven-year sentence in a money laundering case related to Singapore. The verdict was delivered on Thursday morning by a four-judge bench led by Chief Justice Dr. Syed Refaat Ahmed.

Earlier, on December 10, the same bench of the Appellate Division accepted Mamun’s appeal and suspended the execution of his sentence. The case, initially filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on October 26, 2009, accused Tarique Rahman and Mamun of laundering Tk 204.1 million in bribes related to a proposed 80 MW power plant project in Tongi between 2003 and 2007. According to the case, the money was transferred to Mamun’s account at Citibank in Singapore, of which Tk 37.8 million was withdrawn and spent by Tarique Rahman.

A Dhaka court in 2013 acquitted Tarique Rahman but sentenced Mamun to seven years in prison and fined him Tk 400 million. However, the ACC appealed against Tarique Rahman’s acquittal on December 5, 2013, which was accepted by the High Court on January 19, 2014. After hearing the appeals of both the ACC and Mamun, the High Court, on July 21, 2016, overturned the lower court’s acquittal of Tarique Rahman, sentencing him to seven years in prison and imposing a Tk 200 million fine. It upheld Mamun’s seven-year sentence but reduced his fine from Tk 400 million to Tk 200 million. Following a political shift, Mamun’s appeal was reconsidered, and the Appellate Division accepted it on December 10 before ultimately acquitting both individuals.