The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Former Awami League lawmaker Dr HBM Iqbal was yesterday sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment for amassing wealth illegally and concealing his actual assets in the account submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

His wife Dr Momtaz Begum Dolly, sons Moyeen Iqbal and Imran Iqbal and daughter Nawrin Iqbal were also jailed for three years for "aiding and abetting" him in protecting his "ill-gotten wealth".

A special court trying high-profile corruption suspects at the parliament-bhaban complex delivered the judgment in the corruption case, filed as part of an anti-corruption drive launched by the caretaker regime against the backdrop of the past sociopolitical crisis. The court further fined Dr Iqbal Tk 50 lakh, while the four other convicts Tk one lakh each.

Besides, the court ordered the government to confiscate the wealth worth Tk 14.56 crore of the family to the state coffers.

All of them were tried in absentia, as the entire family is on the run amid a countrywide hunt against corruption suspects, being carried out by army-led joint forces.

"The sentences will take effect after police arrest or the convicts surrender to the court," says the court order.

On June 25 last year, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case with Motijheel police station accusing them of amassing wealth worth Tk 2,29,52,719, disproportionate to their known sources of income, and concealing their assets worth Tk 10,60,83,692.