By Admin 
A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in jail and her niece and British MP Tulip Siddiq to two years in jail in a land scam case. According to the news of state-run BSS news agency, Judge Mohammad Rabiul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 also sentenced Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana to seven years in jail in the same case. A case was registered against 17 people in this corruption case.
The court pronounced this verdict in a packed courtroom in the absence of the three accused. Each of the remaining 14 accused was jailed for five years. The court also imposed a fine of Tk 1 lakh each on all the 17 convicts, including Haseena, Rehana and Siddiq, and in default of payment of the fine, they will have to undergo additional jail term of six months.
She is the daughter of Britain’s Bangladeshi Labor Party leader Siddiq Rehana and has been MP from Hampstead and Highgate since 2015. In April, the interim government had issued an arrest warrant for 43-year-old Siddiq as part of its investigation into corruption during Hasina’s tenure as prime minister.
He was found guilty of influencing his aunt Haseena to acquire land on the outskirts of Dhaka in the name of his mother, brother and sister. However, he has vehemently denied these allegations. According to the news of ‘The Daily Star’ newspaper, this is the fourth decision related to 78-year-old Hasina in the cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
On January 13, ACC had registered a case of land scam against 15 people including Hasina, Rehana and Siddiq. These people were accused of illegally obtaining the allotment of the plot during the tenure of the former Prime Minister. The investigating officer later filed a charge sheet against 17 accused on March 10.
The ACC had filed six separate cases at its Dhaka Unified District Office-1 between January 12 and 14 over alleged irregularities in the allotment of land under the ‘Purbachal New Town’ project, ‘The Dhaka Tribune’ newspaper reported.
According to the ACC, Hasina, in collusion with Rajuk officials, illegally acquired six plots of land, each measuring 10 katha (7,200 sq ft) in size, for herself and several relatives, including her son Sajeeb Wajid Joy and daughter Saima Wajid Putul, even though they were not eligible under existing rules.
ACC officials said Siddiq used his position to get plots in the names of Rehana, Bobby and Azmeena. Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) is the government agency responsible for monitoring the regulations from planning to construction of government buildings in Bangladesh.
In this case, on July 31, charges were framed against 29 people, including Haseena, Rehana, Joy, Putul and Tulip. Hasina was sentenced on November 27 to 21 years of rigorous imprisonment, which includes seven years in each of the three cases filed in the Purbachal land scam case. Joy and Putul were co-accused in separate cases and were sentenced to five years in each case.
According to a report by ‘BBC’ (British Broadcasting Corporation), Siddiq lives in London and has rejected the allegations against him. Britain has no extradition treaty with Bangladesh. It is classified as a ‘2B’ country, which means that clear evidence must be presented to lawyers and judges to approve any extradition.
Hasina has been living in India since the massive protests in Bangladesh on August 5 last year. Due to the protests, he had to leave power and his Awami League government fell. He was declared a fugitive by a court.
Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal last month on charges of “crimes against humanity” over her government’s brutal crackdown on student protests last year. The ousted Prime Minister says the allegations against him are “full of bias and politically motivated”.