A Dhaka court has sentenced former Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Partha Gopal Banik to a total of eight years in prison for corruption.
Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam of the Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-4 announced the verdict in the graft case on Sunday.
Partha was also fined Tk 50,000 by the court and a failure to pay the fine will be met with an additional three months in prison, reports bdnews24.com.
The state will also seize his non-income assets.
The former prisons official received two separate sentences of five years and three years on charges of accepting bribes and corruption, but was cleared on a charge of money laundering.
Both prison sentences may be served simultaneously, meaning that he will only have to serve five years in prison. The time already spent in detention will be removed from this sentence.
Partha said he will appeal the decision with a higher court after the verdict was announced.
On Dec 27, Judge Sheikh Nazmul Alam scheduled the verdict for Jan 9 after hearing arguments from both sides.
The Anti-Corruption Commission that filed the case seized Tk 8 million in cash from his home in Dhanmondi in a raid following interrogation at their office in 2019 over the complaints of corruption and irregularities. He was then arrested.
Partha abused his power as a government employee and accumulated Tk 8 million illegally, ACC said in the charge sheet.
He committed a punishable offence by keeping a large amount of cash at home for money laundering, instead of depositing it into a bank account, according to the case dossier.
The High Court approved the ACC appeal on Sept 2 and cancelled his bail ordering him to surrender by Sept 20.
The High Court ordered the settling of the case by Feb 28, 2022.
Partha was initially granted bail in the case, but the High Court later cancelled his bail ordering him to surrender by Sept 20.
The charges against Partha included obtaining money through bribery, corruption and irregularities, and hiding wealth information.
Partha told the court that his monthly basic salary is Tk 30,000.
Asked about the source of the money found at his home in Dhaka, he said he had withdrawn Tk 3 million from a fixed deposit account, while the rest of the money belonged to his wife and her mother.
An investigation after the arrest of the then Chattogram Central Jail jailor Sohel Rana Biswas with about Tk 45 million in cash, cheques and FDR led the ACC to Partha.
