Dhaka court staffers among five convicted of bail fraud

A Dhaka court has convicted five persons, including two court staffers, of forging judges' signatures to produce fake bail documents.

In its verdict on Wednesday, the court of Dhaka's Fifth Special Judge sentenced the convicts to 14 years in prison each on two charges.
 
The convicts are Dhaka's Additional Sessions Judge Court's clerk Musleh Uddin, fourth-grade employee Sheikh Md Nayeem and three Umedars (temporary employees without pay) Md Ismail, Md Alamgir and Md Jahangir.
 
The convicts have been given seven-year rigorous imprisonment each on two charges. They have also fined by Tk 20,000 each, failing to pay which will cause another two years in prison.
 
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case in 2005 over fake bail documents for 106 suspects in 76 trails.
 
ACC counsel Mahmud Hossain Jahangir told bdnews24.com that the fake documents had signatures of 61 lawyers, but only 19 of them were produced as witnesses.
 
"The court described it as a negligence of the investigators in its verdict. It also forwarded a copy of the verdict to the ACC to initiate measures against investigating officer," he said.
 
Convicts Musleh Uddin, Nayeem and Ismail were produced before the court on Wednesday for the verdict, while the others are absconding.