Huda, his wife, Shahjahan Siraj's wife get jail terms

FE Team | Published: August 28, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

A special court trying high-profile corruption suspects Monday sentenced detained former communications minister and BNP stalwart Barrister Nazmul Huda to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and his wife Sigma Huda three years of simple imprisonment in a graft case.
Another special court Monday sentenced Rabeya Siraj, wife of former Jute Minister Shahjahan Siraj, to 32 years of imprisonment in four income tax evasion cases involving Tk 225,000 (2.25 lakh), report UNB/bdnews24.com.
Judge AK Roy pronounced the verdict against the Huda couple after examining records and depositions by the defence witnesses.
The court also fined Nazmul Huda Tk 25 million (2.50 crore), in default of which he will have to stay in jail for one year more. The court also ordered confiscation of Tk 24 million, which he took as bribe from the owner of a construction firm.
Another report adds: A special court Monday sentenced Rabeya Siraj, wife of former Jute Minister Shahjahan Siraj, to 32 years imprisonment in four income tax evasion cases involving Tk 225,000 (2.25 lakh).
However, Rabeya, who was tried in absentia, will have to suffer only five years in jail, as the sentences in all the cases will run concurrently.
The court of Judge Begum Shamsunnahar also ordered confiscation of 82.50 decimal lands owned by Rabeya.
The National Board of Revenue filed as many as 11 cases against Shahjahan Siraj, his wife and his son.
A number of tax evasion cases was filed against the family members of Shahjahan Siarj, who has been absconding since the present government launched a crusade against corruption.
According to bdnews24.com, Judge AK Roy of the Special Judge's Court-2 of Dhaka convicted the former communications minister of taking Tk 24 million in three bank cheques as bribe from Mir Zahir Hossain, managing director of the construction firm Mir Akhtar Hossain Ltd and elder brother of FBCCI president Mir Nasir Hossain.
Huda had taken the bribe in exchange for awarding Hossain five contracts under the Roads and Highways Department run by his ministry.
Sigma has been convicted of abetting her husband in committing the crime by depositing the cheques in her bank accounts in the name of her Bangla-language weekly magazine Khoborer Antoraley.
She withdrew Tk 10 million from the account and opened an FDR in the name of their two daughters.
Anticorruption Commission's deputy director Md Shafiqul Islam filed the case against Huda and his wife with Dhanmondi Police Station on March 21.
The special court housed in the parliament complex framed charges on July 5. A total of 48 people gave their deposition from July 9 to July 23, of them, 40 for the state and eight for the defendants.