Dhaka:A court has sentenced eight individuals, including the former chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), Iqbal Uddin Choudhury, to 14 years in prison for corruption related to plot allocations in the Purbachal Residential Project. The other convicted individuals include former RAJUK members SD Foyej, AKM Wahedul Islam, SM Jafar Ullah, HM Jahurul Haque, Md Rezaul Karim Tarafdar, and businessmen Shawkat Aziz and his brother Ashfak Aziz.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, Judge Md Abdus Salam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-9 delivered the verdict, sentencing the six former RAJUK officials to seven years and a fine of Taka 10 lakh each under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947. They received an additional seven-year sentence and another fine under the Penal Code.
Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz were sentenced to seven years and fined under the same laws, with an additional year in prison for non-payment of fines. They faced another seven-year sentence and fine under additional sections of the Penal Code, with the same penalty for non-payment.
The court ruled that the time already spent in custody by the accused would be deducted from their sentences, which will run concurrently. The judgment also ordered the cancellation and confiscation of plots Nos. 011 and 013, allotted unlawfully to the Aziz brothers, in favor of the state.
The case originated when industrialists Ashfaq and Shawkat Aziz had initially deposited funds for the plots but withdrew their deposits after their applications were not successful in the first phase. Despite their applications being invalidated, the plots were later unlawfully allotted to them by RAJUK without proper recommendation, following a decision to allow repayments with interest.
Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Sylvia Ferdous filed the case in 2017. The charge sheet was submitted by ACC Deputy Director Mirza Zahidul Islam in 2018, leading to the trial where nine prosecution witnesses testified.