A Dhaka court has sentenced former Gendaria Awami League leaders Enamul Haque Enu, his brother Rupon Bhuiyan and nine others to seven years in prison each for money laundering.
In addition to the jail time, Dhaka Fifth Special Judge Iqbal Hossain also fined each of the convicts Tk 40 million for their ties to the illegal casino business, reports bdnews24.com.
The nine other suspects in the case are Merajul Haque Bhuiyan Shiplu, Rashidul Haque Bhuiyan, Shahidul Haque Bhuiyan, Joy Gopal Sarkar, Pavel Rahman, Tuhin Munshi, Abul Kalam, Nabir Hossain Shikdar and Saiful Alam.
Among them, Shiplu, Rashidul, Shahidul and Pavel are absconding.
Six of the suspects, including Enu and Rupon, were in jail, while Tuhin was out on bail. Tuhin and the six in jail were brought to court on Monday to hear the verdict.
Enu and his brother Rupon were arrested on Jan 13, 2020 during a raid at the height of the casino scandal in sports and recreational clubs around Dhaka. They were subsequently named in 12 cases with different police stations across the capital on charges relating to the illegal accumulation of wealth and money laundering.
The state and defence made their closing arguments in the money laundering case, which was filed with the Wari Police Station, on Mar 16. The verdict was initially set for Apr 6, but was later deferred to Monday.
On Sept 24, 2019, the RAB recovered Tk 50 million in cash, 8 kg gold and six firearms following raids on Enu and Rupon’s home, and two houses of their staff and a friend. The elite police unit claimed the recovered items were bought with the illegal funds they had amassed from the casino business.
Enu, a shareholder of Dhaka Wanderers’ Club – one of the first establishments busted during the crackdown on casino operations, was the vice-president of Gendaria Thana Awami League. His brother Rupon was its joint general secretary.