Ex-BNP minister Shajahan gets 13 yrs for graft

Dhaka, April 22 (bdnews24.com)—A Dhaka court Tuesday sentenced former jute and textiles minister Shajahan Siraj to 13 years' rigorous imprisonment for amassing illegal wealth and concealing wealth-related information from the Anticorruption Commission.

Justice Khandaker Kamaluzzaman of Special Judge's Court-9 handed down the verdict, including a Tk 10 lakh fine or another year in jail on failure to pay.

The court also sentenced Shahjahan's wife Rabeya Haider to three years in prison, a Tk 5 lakh fine or another six months' imprisonment.

The verdict details said the ex-minister was sentenced to three years for concealing wealth-related information and another 10 years for amassing wealth illegally. Shahjahan will have to serve the two terms consecutively for a total of 13 years in prison.

The ACC filed the case against Shajahan Siraj and Rabeya Haider on Sept 24, 2007, with Ramna police station.

The verdicts will be effective from the date of surrender or arrest of the two.

The court in addition ordered confiscation of the couple's illegally acquired assets worth Tk 3.76 crore, which include Rabeya Haider's shares in 'Garden Fresh Preservation', the country's only fruit and vegetable cold store facility.

The ACC found that the cold storage facility took Tk 4 crore to establish.

Shahjahan was previously sentenced to eight years in jail in 2007 for tax evasion and concealment of tax related information.

Rabeya Haider has now been sentenced a total of 40 years in jail in five separate tax dodge cases.

Their son Rajiv Siraj was also sentenced to a total of 40 years for his involvement in another five separate cases.

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