A court in Dhaka sentenced Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) standing committee member Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mia to three years’ imprisonment in a case filed against him for not submitting his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
On Tuesday (Nov 20), Judge Sheikh Golam Mahbub of the Special Judge Court pronounced the verdict in his absence.
The senior BNP leader was also fined Tk 50,000, in default of which he will have to serve three months more in jail.

According to the case documents, the then ACC served notice on Rafiqul Islam to submit his wealth information on Apr 7, 2004.

ACC official filed a case against Rafiqul on Sep 15, 2004 when he failed to submit the wealth information by the deadline. The official also submitted the charges to the court on Nov 30 that year.

The court ordered the start of the trial on Nov 14, 2017.