Ex-BTCL official sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in ACC case

A retired sub-divisional engineer of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company (BTCL) has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for illicitly amassing wealth through corruption.

Convict sub-divisional engineer Monsur Ali Zoardar is a resident of Bara Alichara area of Kushtia Sadar upazila.

Barishal Divisional Special Judge Court Judge Mehdi Al Masud delivered the verdict on Wednesday (20 March), the court's bench assistant, Abul Bashar, confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.

The court also fined him Tk60,000. Failure to pay the fine will result in an additional nine months of imprisonment. 

According to Abul Bashar, sub-assistant engineer Ibrahim Khan purchased a shop in Kabir Talukdar Super Market of Agailjhara Upazila of Barisal district, which was later operated by his son, Prince Khan. Between 8-28 June 2003, Prince conducted his business using 24 connections with 12 telephone numbers, resulting in a financial loss of Tk17.92 lakh for BTCL. However, they benefited illegally from this endeavour.

In this incident, Barishal district anti-corruption bureau Assistant Inspector Humayan Kabir filed a case on 16 October 2004 against sub-divisional engineers Ibrahim Khan, Monsur Ali Zoardar and lineman Emdad Hossain. 

Nazmul Hasan, assistant director of the commission's Barisal office, filed the charge sheet in court on 6 September 2016, accusing these three people. 

After testimonies from 12 witnesses, the judge acquitted lineman Emdad due to insufficient evidence. Besides, sub-divisional engineer Ibrahim Khan passed away before the verdict was announced.

At the time, the court sentenced Monsur Ali Zoardar to seven years of rigorous imprisonment for fraudulence and imposed a Tk50,000 fine or six more months in jail. Additionally, he received five years in prison for corruption and a Tk10,000 fine, with another three months of imprisonment in case of non-payment.

ACC lawyer Noor Uddin Ahmed said, "The convict in the case is currently absconding. The court has issued an arrest warrant against him."