Harris Chowdhury jailed for 3 years

A Dhaka court Thursday sentenced Harris Chowdhury, a close aide to former prime minister Khaleda Zia, to three years in jail for illegally possessing foreign currency. Judge Syed Jahed Mansur of Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal-9 also fined him Tk 10,000 and ruled that he would have to serve another six months in prison if he failed to pay the fine. Harris, who served as the political secretary to Khaleda during her latest term in office, has been a fugitive since the military-backed interim administration took the reins on Jan11. On Feb 4, joint forces raided his Gulshan home and recovered US$ 2,620, 865 pound sterling, 6,000 Singapore dollars, watch, passport and other personal effects for which the house staff failed to produce any legal documents.