A Dhaka court on Monday issued arrest warrants against BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman in a graft case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on the charge of acquiring wealth beyond known income.

The court gave the order after accepting the charges brought against the couple.

Judge Md Asaduzzaman of Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court passed the order after scrutinising the case dockets and other relevant documents.

The court set January 5 to submit a report on the case progress by the officer-in-charge of Cantonment police station.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against Tarique, his wife Zubaida and her mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu of amassing illegal wealth and concealing information in wealth statements, with the Kafrul police station on September 26, 2007.

The anti-graft body filed the charge sheet in 2008. Zubaida after that filed a petition with the High Court, pleading to quash the proceedings of the case. The High Court in the same year stayed the proceedings of the case, which was later upheld by the Appellate Division.

The High Court, after holding the final hearing on the matter, canceled the plea of Zubaida on April 12, 2017. It had also asked her to appear before the trial court concerned within eight weeks. Zubaida later filed a leave to appeal petition against the High Court order. 

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on April 13, 2022, scrapped Zubaida's leave to appeal petition and upheld the High Court order.

On June 26, the High Court declared Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman as "fugitives".