HBM Iqbal jailed for 13 years

Dhaka, March 11 (bdnews24.com) – A special court dealing with graft cases Tuesday sentenced former Awami League lawmaker HBM Iqbal to 13 years in prison on two counts of charges.

Iqbal was sentenced to 10 years for accumulating wealth illegally and to a further three years for submitting a false wealth statement to the Anticorruption Commission. The two sentences will run consecutively.

Judge Md Feroz Alam of Special Judge's Court-1 also fined Iqbal Tk 50 lakh and ordered that the failure to pay the fine would result in an additional one year behind bars.

The court also jailed Iqbal's wife Momtaz Begum Doly, their two sons Moyeen Iqbal and Imran Iqbal and daughter Nowrin Iqbal each to three years for illegally amassing wealth.

The AL leader's wife, two sons and daughter were also ordered to pay Tk 1 lakh each, or serve an additional one month in jail.

All of the accused are currently on the run.

Iqbal was convicted of concealing wealth worth Tk 10.61 crore in the wealth statement he had submitted to the ACC. He was also found guilty of amassing wealth of Tk 2.30 crore beyond his known sources of income.

His wife assisted him in amassing the wealth.

Moyeen Iqbal and Imran Iqbal were found guilty of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 6.75 lakh each, while Nowrin Iqbal illegally acquired Tk 1.53 crore.

The verdict was originally scheduled on March 4 but was deferred because the judge was on leave.

Anticorruption Commission deputy director Md Ibrahim filed the case on June 25 last year with Gulshan Police Station.

On Feb 18, the ACC made a list of 50 corruption suspects which included politicians and government officials.

They were asked to submit an account of their moveable and immoveable assets within 72 hours.

Iqbal was on the list.

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