A court has sentenced Abdul Malek, the former driver of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), to 13 years of rigorous imprisonment in a corruption case related to illegally acquired assets.
The verdict was delivered on Sunday, by Judge Zakaria Hossain of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-6.
Abdul Malek received 10 years of imprisonment for amassing wealth beyond known sources of income, along with a fine of Tk1,00,000.
Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional six months of imprisonment.
Additionally, he was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined another Tk1,00,000 for concealing information, with an additional six months of imprisonment in case of non-payment.
The court also ordered the confiscation of Tk15,031,810 worth of illegally acquired assets in favor of the state.
As both sentences will run concurrently, Malek will serve a maximum of 10 years in prison, according to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) prosecutor Asaduzzaman Rana.
On the day of the verdict, Malek was brought to court from prison.
Following the announcement of the judgment, he was taken back to prison under a sentencing warrant.
Meanwhile, the verdict in another corruption case against Abdul Malek and his wife, Nargis Begum, was not prepared, leading the court to set April 16 as the new date for the ruling.
The ACC's Assistant Director Syed Nazrul Islam, filed the case against Abdul Malek and his wife on February 14, 2021, for possessing immovable and movable assets worth Tk11,0,92,050 that were inconsistent with known sources of income.
On the same day, Syed Nazrul Islam also lodged another case against Malek for concealing information regarding assets worth Tk93,53,648 and for unlawfully acquiring assets worth Tk1,50,31,810, which were inconsistent with his declared income.
Following an investigation, charge sheets for both cases were submitted to the court on October 27, 2021.
The trial officially commenced on May 11, 2022, when the court framed charges against Malek.
Notably, September 20, 2021, Abdul Malek was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment under two counts in an arms case.
