A Dhaka court on Tuesday sentenced eight people including former chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury, to 14 years in jail in a graft case.
Judge of the Dhaka Special Judge Court-9, Abdus Salam, pronounced the judgment in the absence of the convicts, said bench assistant of the court Saiful Islam Mithu.
The other convicts are former Rajuk officials, SD Faiz, AKM Wahedul Islam, SM Zafar Ullah, HM Zahurul Haque, and Md Rezaul Karim Torafdar, and Amber Group Managing Director Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz.
The court also fined them Tk20 lakh each, in default of which they will suffer one year more in rigorous imprisonment.
The court also issued warrants for their arrest.
The court also asked the state to confiscate the two plots in the name of Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz -after cancelling the plots allocated for them.
Deputy-assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Silvia Ferdousi, filed a case against six former Rajuk officials, including its former chairman and Shawkat Aziz and Ashfak Aziz, for allocating 20 kathas of plot in Purbachal taking advantage of their power.
According to the prosecution, the accused, in collusion with one another, allocated two plots measuring 10 kathas each, totalling 20 kathas, in Purbachal in the names of Shawkat Aziz and Ashfaq Aziz, causing financial loss to the state.
A case was filed against them in February 2017.
After completing its investigation, the agency submitted a charge sheet to the court.
Subsequently, the court framed charges against the accused and ordered the trial to begin.
During the trial, the prosecution examined a total of nine witnesses.