Dhaka’s Fifth Special Judge’s Court on Thursday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to a total of 21 years in prison in three plot corruption cases. Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun announced the verdict.
According to court sources, a total of 47 people, including Sheikh Hasina and her family members, were accused in the three cases. The statements of 91 witnesses revealed that she and her children had been allocated government plots in the RAJUK housing project by concealing the information despite having their own land in the capital.
The ACC filed the cases on charges of illegally acquiring a 30-katha plot of RAJUK. Although summons and arrest warrants were issued to produce the accused in court, most of them remained absent. The trial against Hasina and 22 others was completed while they were still absconding.
The ACC charge sheet states that Sheikh Hasina abused her power as Prime Minister and violated the housing policy. She also provided false information in allocating plots in her and her children’s names.
The accused outside his family include former State Minister for Housing Sharif Ahmed, former private secretary to the Prime Minister Mohammad Salah Uddin, top officials of the Housing Ministry and several former members of RAJUK. The only accused arrested, former RAJUK member Mohammad Khurshid Alam, claimed innocence in court.
After the political changes on August 5 last year, allegations of corruption during the Awami League regime began to gain importance. In continuation of this, the ACC filed a total of six cases in January this year regarding the allocation of 60 katha plots in the Purbachal New City project. Apart from Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, sister Sheikh Rehana and other family members were named as accused in these cases.
The three cases of the Hasina family are being tried together; the cases of the Rehana family are being tried in separate courts. After arguments on November 23, the court set a date for the verdict in the Hasina family case. The verdict in one of the Rehana family cases will be announced on December 1.