British MP and ex-minister Tulip Siddiq has been jailed along with her aunt, deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and mother Rehana in a graft case over "abuse of power" in acquiring a RAJUK plot.
A special court in Dhaka Monday pronounced the jail sentences against a total of 17 accused to different terms in the Purbachal plot case.
Explaining the grounds for convicting Tulip, an incumbent UK Member of Parliament and former minister, the court says she used her "political influence to secure a 10-katha plot in RAJUK's Purbachal New Town Project under her mother Sheikh Rehana's name".
Tulip is found guilty under Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947 and Section 109 of the Penal Code.
"Witness testimony proved that she influenced her aunt's Principal Secretary, Salah Uddin who served former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, by directly contacting him through various mobile and internet applications," the verdict reads.
Hasina has been sentenced to five years' imprisonment, while Rehana to seven years and Tulip received two years in prison. The court also sentenced 14 other accused of the case to serve five years each in prison.
All 17 accused, including Hasina, Rehana and Tulip, have been fined Tk 0.1 million each, and in default they will have to serve an additional six months in jail.
Judge of the Special Judge's Court no 4 in Dhaka Md Rabiul Alam delivered the verdict after concluding the trial proceedings in the case.
All the convicts, excepting Mohammad Khurshid Alam, former Member (Estate and Land) of RAJUK, are absconding.
Hasina, 78, now in India since the fall of her government amid mass uprising, has already been sentenced to a total of 26 years' imprisonment in four graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), including the current one. Previously, she also received death sentence in a crimes-against-humanity case from the International Crimes Tribunal.
The special court says, "The period of sentence shall commence from the time the absconding convicts surrender before the court or from the time of their arrest."
It adds that the period of custody already undergone by the accused Mohammad Khurshid Alam shall be deducted from the total term of imprisonment imposed on him.
The court also issued arrest warrants against the runaway convicts, specifying their respective sentences.
The court orders the authorities concerned to cancel the impugned plot allocation to Rehana.
Earlier in the day, the Special Court started delivering its verdict at 11.30 am, amid tightened security in the court area.
Those sentenced to five years imprisonment include Saiful Islam Sarkar, former administrative officer of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works (MoHPW), Purabi Goldar, former Sr Assistant Secretary of the MoHPW, Md Oliullah, former Additional Secretary-2 of MoHPW, Kazi Wasi Uddin, former Secretary of the MoHPW, Md Anisur Rahman Miah, former RAJUK Chairman, Mohammad Khurshid Alam, former Member (Estate and Land) of RAJUK, and Tonmoy Das, former Member (Development and Control) of RAJUK.
The list also includes Mohammad Nasir Uddin, former Member (Planning) of RAJUK, Major (retired) Engineer Shamsuddin Ahmed Chowdhury, former Member (Development) of RAJUK, Mohammad Nurul Islam, former Director (Estate and Land-2) of RAJUK, Majharul Islam, former Assistant Director (Estate and Land-3) of RAJUK, Nayeb Ali Sharif, former Deputy Director (Estate and Land-3), of RAJUK, Mohammad Salah Uddin, former Principal Secretary-1 of the Prime Minister Office, and Sharif Uddin Ahmed, former State Minister of the MoHPW.
Lawyers Khan Mohammad Moinul Hasan and Muhammad Tariqul Islam appeared in the court proceedings on behalf of the ACC.
The anti-graft body in January this year lodged six separate cases with its Dhaka Integrated District Office-1 over alleged irregularities in the allocation of RAJUK plots under the Purbachal New Town project.
The ACC alleged that Hasina, in collusion with senior RAJUK officials, unlawfully secured six plots, each measuring 10 kathas, in the diplomatic zone of Sector 27 of the Purbachal New Town project for herself, her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, sister Sheikh Rehana and Rehana's son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby and daughter Azmina Siddiq, despite their ineligibility under existing regulations.
On March 25, the ACC submitted six charge sheets with the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court in Dhaka where Hasina was named as a common accused in all six cases.
On July 31, two separate special courts framed charges against 29 people, including Hasina, Rehana, Joy, Putul, Bobby, Tulip and Azmina, in the six cases.
Concluding the trial proceedings, Special Court No 4 on Monday delivered its verdict in one of cases involving the 17 accused.
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