Corruption: Rana Plaza owner’s mother jailed for 6yrs

A Dhaka court today sentenced Morzina Begum, the mother of Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana, to six years’ imprisonment in a case filed for amassing wealth illegally and concealing her wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). 

KM Imrul Kayes, Judge of the Special Judge Court-6 of Dhaka, handed down the verdict in presence of the convict. The court also fined her Tk 20,000.

The judge cancelled her bail obtained earlier and ordered police to send her to jail with conviction warrant.

The court further ordered the authorities concerned to confiscate Tk 6,67,66,990 and one-third of her property acquired illegally situated at Savar Bazar road in favor of the state.

Earlier, the prosecution and defence completed their arguments and the court recorded statements of eight prosecution witnesses.

On April 12, 2015, ACC Deputy Director Mahbubul Alam filed a case with Ramna Police Station against Morzina Begum for her alleged involvement with amassing wealth illegally and giving false statement about her wealth.

On August 29, 2016, the ACC pressed charges against her while the court framed charges against her on August 28 last year.

On May 21 last year, another Dhaka court framed charges against 10 people including Morzina Begum, her husband Abdul Khalek and Sohel Rana in case filed for accumulating wealth illegally.

The anti-graft watchdog started investigation about his wealth after the Rana Plaza collapsed on 24 April in 2013, which left 1,136 people killed and about 2,515 others injured.

Morzina was also charged with two other cases --one filed for killing in Rana plaza collapse and the other for building code violation.