Ex-Rajuk chair jailed for 14-yr in graft case

A Dhaka court on Tuesday sentenced eight people, including former Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) chairman Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury, to 14 years in prison each in a corruption case involving the allocation of plots in Purbachal.

Judge Abdus Salam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-9 delivered the verdict in the absence of the convicts, court bench assistant Saiful Islam Mithu said.

The other convicts are former Rajuk officials SD Faiz, AKM Wahedul Islam, SM Zafar Ullah, HM Zahurul Haque and Md Rezaul Karim Torafdar, along with Amber Group Managing Director Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz.

The court also fined each convict Tk 20 lakh, with an additional year of rigorous imprisonment in default of payment. It issued arrest warrants against them and ordered the confiscation of two plots allocated in the names of Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz after cancelling their allotments.

According to the prosecution, the accused acted in collusion to allocate two plots measuring 10 kathas each in Purbachal, totalling 20 kathas, to Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz by abusing their official powers, causing financial losses to the state.

Deputy Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Silvia Ferdousi filed the case in February 2017 against six former Rajuk officials, including the former chairman, and the two businessmen over the alleged irregularities in the plot allocations.

After completing its investigation, the ACC submitted a charge sheet to the court. The court subsequently framed charges against the accused and ordered the trial to begin.
During the trial, the prosecution examined nine witnesses.