Dhaka: Convicted BNP Senior Vice-chairman Tarique Rahman, living in London since September 2008, does not have any valid Bangladeshi travel document as of now as he had handed over his passport to the UK Home Office almost three years back.
“As of today, he (Tarique) doesn’t have any valid travel document,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam told UNB on Wednesday.
The UK Home Office returned his passport to the Bangladesh High Commission, said the State Minister adding that Tarique does not have any valid document to return home unless he decides to apply for a new passport.
BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, facing over dozen of cases, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment and fined Tk 20 crore by the High Court in a money laundering case last year.
Shahriar Alam said the government, being ordered by the court, has repeatedly asked the UK government and its Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to help the Bangladesh government and inform about his status in the UK.
In reply, the UK government says it is a “highly confidential” matter and something “not be shared” with others, he said.
“This explanation from the UK side is not acceptable to us. We’ve a feeling that he is going through a temporary arrangement or sort of political asylum there,” said the State Minister.
The government has raised Tarique’s continuous “distortion of history” with UK government, Shahriar Alam said.
“We’ve observed that he has refrained himself from doing so in the recent days fearing withdrawal of his temporary privileges what he (Tarique) enjoys in the UK currently,” he added.
On Saturday, Tarique’s mother and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia reached London for “her treatment” and to meet the members of her family.
Her eldest son Tarique received her at the airport and personally drove her to his Kingston residence.
This is her third trip to London since she left office in 2007. She had visited the UK in 2011 to meet Tarique Rahman on her way back from the US.
Khaleda also visited London in 2015 for treatment and to meet her family members.unb
