Partex Group founder’s two sons, ex-RAJUK chairman get seven years in prison

Ashfaq Aziz Rubel, director of the Partex Group and Shawkat Aziz Russell, chairman of the Amber Group – two of the sons of Partex Group’s founder MA Hashem – have been awarded jail sentences of seven years each in a graft case over a plot scam.
A Dhaka court on Tuesday also sentenced Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury, former chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), and five others in the case. The other convicts are: former RAJUK members SD Foyez (development), AKM Wahedul Islam (planning), SM Jafar Ullah (finance), HM Zahurul Haque (administration and land), and Rezaul Karim Tarafdar (estate).
Judge of Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-9 Md Abdus Salam pronounced the verdict in the absence of the convicts.
The convicts were sentenced to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each for criminal breach of trust and another seven years for criminal misconduct. However, the sentences will run concurrently, meaning they will serve a maximum of seven years in prison under these convictions.
The eight convicts were also fined Tk10 lakh each for criminal misconduct, with an additional year of rigorous imprisonment in default of payment.
They were also sentenced to another seven years’ rigorous imprisonment each and fined Tk10 lakh for criminal breach of trust, with a further year in prison for failure to pay the fine.
The verdict stated that the time already spent in custody would be deducted from the sentences and that the prison terms under the two provisions would run concurrently.
Some of the accused, including Russell and Iqbal, were arrested in 2017 shortly after the corruption case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Later, they were released on bail.
However, all the accused had been on bail in the case but did not appear before the court when the verdict was pronounced. The court consequently cancelled their bail and issued sentence warrants along with arrest warrants against them.
The court in the verdict also ordered the cancellation of the allotments of two plots, numbered 011 and 013, on Road 405 in Sector 1 of Purbachal, allocated to Rubel and Russell, and their confiscation in favour of the state.
According to the case statement, RAJUK had allotted two 10-katha plots to Rubel and Russell. The six former RAJUK officials allegedly facilitated the allocations by depriving eligible applicants of the opportunity to obtain the plots.
The ACC filed the case with Motijheel Police Station on 8 February 2017.
After completing the investigation, the ACC submitted the charge-sheet against the eight accused to the court on 4 September 2018.
On 26 August 2019, the court framed charges against them and ordered the trial to begin. During the trial, the court recorded the testimonies of nine witnesses.