Dhaka, Dec 1 A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison over irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Purbachal New Town project, local media reported.
Additionally, Hasina’s sister, Sheikh Rehana, was handed a seven-year sentence, while her niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, received two years' imprisonment.
Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge's Court-4 of Dhaka announced the verdict in the absence of the three accused amid heightened security outside the court premises.
The 14 other accused were jailed for five years each in the same case, and all 17 defendants in the case, including Hasina, Rehana, and Tulip, were fined Bangladeshi Taka 1 lakh each, with an additional six months in jail for non-payment of fines, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had filed six separate cases between January 12 to 14 in Dhaka Integrated District Office-1 alleging irregularities in the plot allocation.
The latest verdict comes after a Dhaka court on November 27 sentenced Hasina to 21 years of imprisonment in three corruption cases filed by the ACC over irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Purbachal project.
Following the verdict of the Dhaka Court, Hasina and her family members rejected the corruption charges against them, calling the claims "malicious, politically motivated and without any proper foundation".
“We firmly deny all allegations of corruption, with each charge brought against us tainted by the political motivations of our opponents. The ACC is under the control of an unelected government, armed with slanted and partial evidence and which prevented any opportunity to defend ourselves,” read a statement issued by Hasina and her family members, which was posted on Awami League's social media platform.
Slamming the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, they said, “These allegations are obviously malicious, politically motivated and without any proper foundation, but what is even more disappointing is that the interim Government is trying to implicate and involve innocent family members who are not in any way involved in politics".
Earlier, the Hasina-led Awami League party also strongly condemned the "baseless and fabricated corruption case" against the former Prime Minister and her family members, which it said was designed to malign them.
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