Dhaka, Nov 2 (IANS) A lawmaker from the ruling Bangladesh Awami League party was on Wednesday jailed for three years for concealing information in his wealth statement to the country's anti-graft body.
Judge Abu Ahmed Jomadar of Special Judge's Court in Dhaka handed down the verdict in presence of Abdur Rahman Bodi, the first Bangladeshi lawmaker in power facing such punishment, Xinhua news agency reported.
Upon hearing the verdict, the lawmaker, who will have to serve in jail for three months more if he fails to pay a fine of 1 million taka ($12,772), burst into tears.
His lawyer Mahbuba Ahmed told journalists that his client will move the upper court against the verdict.
Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on August 21, 2014, filed a case against the lawmaker in Dhaka, accusing him of amassing huge wealth illegally and concealing information in his wealth statement.
According to his wealth statements submitted to the Election Commission in 2008 and 2014, his yearly income was only 200,000 taka ($2,554), which increased to 1.5 million taka ($19,158) in 2014 and his property value surged to about 28 million taka ($357,628) from 4.7 million taka ($60,030) in just five years.
