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Published : 16 Apr 2025, 02:18 PM
A Dhaka court has sentenced former health services directorate driver Abdul Malek to 5 years and his wife Nargis Begum to 3 years in jail for possessing wealth beyond their known sources of income.
Judge Zakaria Hossain of Sixth Dhaka Special Judge’s Court delivered the verdict on Wednesday.
Alongside the jail terms, Malek and Nargis were fined Tk 20,000 each. Failure to pay the fine will add three additional months to the sentence.
ACC Prosecutor Asaduzzaman Rana said the court also ordered the seizure of property amounting to Tk 1.09 million acquired beyond the convict’s means.
Malek, brought to the court from prison, and Nargis, who had been out on bail, were present during the sentencing. After the verdict was delivered, they were taken to jail.
On Feb 14, 2021, Syed Nazrul Islam, the then ACC assistant director, lodged the case against Malek and Nargis over having movable and immovable assets amounting to Tk 1.09 million inconsistent with their legal sources of income.
On Oct 27 that year, Nazrul submitted a chargesheet against the accused and the court framed charges on May 11, 2022, to begin trial.
On Mar 23 this year, the judge jailed Malek for 13 years under two sections in a case over illicit wealth.
Previously, the court had sentenced him to 30 years in prison in an arms case.
On Sept 20, 2020, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Malek from his home in Kamarpara.
According to RAB’s statement, Malek owned two seven-storey buildings and a large dairy farm in Turag’s Kamarpara in additional an under-construction 10-storey building in Hatirpool and a total of 15 flats in different areas of Dhanmondi. Malek also has a huge sum of money in different banks.
RAB said it had recovered a pistol, ammunition, and counterfeit currencies of Tk 150,000 in a raid on Malek's home. The arms case was lodged the day he was arrested.
After the trial in the arms case concluded, the court sentenced him to 30 years in prison under two charges. As the terms can be served concurrently, he will have to serve 15 years in prison.
The day after Malek’s arrest, RAB had said the ACC had been on the hunt for more than 50 employees of the health services directorate over “unbound corruption and irregularities”.
