Manpower exporter Nurul Amin jailed for 8 years over illicit wealth

He will serve a maximum of five years in prison as the two sentences will run concurrently, his lawyer says

A Dhaka court has sentenced Nurul Amin, proprietor of manpower exporter Aviate International, to eight years in prison in a case over the acquisition of illicit wealth and concealment of asset information.

Judge Zakaria Hossain of the sixth Dhaka Special Judge's Court issued the verdict on Tuesday.

The convict’s lawyer Shafiqul Islam said Nurul was sentenced to five years in prison and fined Tk 20,000 for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. Failure to pay the fine will add five additional months to the sentence.

Meanwhile, he was handed a 3-year jail term and fined Tk 20,000 for concealing information. Failure to pay the fine will be punished with three more months in prison.

Shafiqul said the court also ordered the seizure of property amounting to Tk 9.3 million acquired beyond the convict’s means.

"He will have to serve a maximum of five years in prison as both the sentences will run concurrently."

Nurul appeared before the court before the verdict and was sent to jail afterwards.

The case dossier shows the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) issued a notice to Nurul to submit his wealth statement on Jul 29, 2009. He submitted the report on Aug 22, 2010.

Property worth Tk 75.3 million was shown in the statement, of which liquid assets amounted to Tk 67.6 million and illiquid assets Tk 7.7 million.

Later, the ACC discovered assets amounting to Tk 9.2 million beyond the means included in the statement.

ACC’s erstwhile deputy director Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan initiated the case with Ramna police on Aug 7, 2011, alleging concealment of information and acquisition of wealth disproportionate to Nurul's declared income. A chargesheet was submitted to the court on Feb 29, 2012.

Nearly a decade later, the accused was indicted on Oct 5, 2021.