Bashundhara Group chief sent to jail

Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam was Sunday sent to prison in tax dodging case, when he surrendered to the court from hideout for about three years, reports UNB. He was convicted and awarded rigorous imprisonment (RI) for five years by the special court of Dhaka on September 30, 2008 for evasion of tax. Information about wealth statement to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) was proved false. The court had also fined him Tk 830 million, and ordered confiscation of his company property worth about Tk 225 million. Deputy commissioner of taxes Kabiruddin filed the case on August 13, 2007. Shah Alam was, however, granted bail by a separate court in Sabbir murder case. Humayun Kabir Sabbir, a director of the group, was killed in his Gulshan residence on July 4, 2006. Shah Alam's son Sobhan Sanvir and some others were accused in the murder case, which was filed on July 7, 2006. Shah Alam was implicated in the murder case after he was alleged to have offered Tk 210 million to the then State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar in a bid to suppress the case.