Casino "kingpin” Salim Prodhan has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a court in Dhaka for illegally amassing Tk57.79 crore and laundering about Tk22 crore.
Judge Md Badrul Alam Bhuiya of Dhaka's Eighth Special Judge's Court handed down on Sunday.
The judge stated that the prosecution had proven the charges brought against Salim Prodhan beyond any doubt.
The judge also said Salim Prodhan had amassed his wealth from his online casino business and siphoned money off to Thailand and the US.
Salim's Russian wife, Anna Prodhan, who was present in court, expressed her disappointment and said she would challenge the verdict in the High Court, according to media reports.
Earlier, the prosecution and defence lawyers completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of 37 prosecution witnesses, including the complainant of the case.
The judge framed charges against Salim Prodhan on October 30, 2021.
On February 4 of 2021, Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Director Gulshan Anwar Pradhan, also the investigating officer of the case, submitted the chargesheet to the Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka.
Salim caught public attention in 2019 when law enforcement carried out drives against illegal casino businesses.
He was arrested on a Bangkok-bound Thai Airways flight at Dhaka airport on September 30, 2019 over his alleged involvement in running an online casino business.
Later that night, the Rapid Action Battalion raided his office and residence in Gulshan and arrested his associates Aktaruzzaman, Roman and Masum.
RAB also recovered 48 bottles of foreign liquor, Tk28 lakh in cash, foreign currencies of 23 different countries worth around Tk77 lakh, 12 passports, 32 cheque books of 13 banks, one large server used in game operating, four laptops and two deer hides.
A RAB mobile court also sentenced Salim to six months in jail for illegal possession of the deer hides.
Three more cases were also filed against him.