A Dhaka court today sentenced four people, including a former official of Sonali Bank Limited, to different terms of punishment in a case filed over embezzling Tk 1.19 crore.
Md Naimul Islam, former principal officer of Sonali Bank Limited at Motijheel's WAPDA (Bangladesh Water Development Board) corporate branch, was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment. He was also fined Tk 81.5 lakh.
Of the other three accused, Md Rafiqul Islam, an account holder of the bank, his guarantor Mosammat Lipi Begum and Md Alamin, security guard of the bank, were each sentenced to five years' imprisonment and fined Tk 81 lakh.
Naimul, Rafiqul and Alamin were present at the court during the pronouncement of the judgement while Lipi Begum remains absconding since the case was filed.
Judge Mohammad Iqbal Hossain of the Special Judge's Court-5 of Dhaka handed down the sentence.
The punishment of the fugitive will be effective from the day of her arrest or surrender, said the judge in his judgment.
According to the case statement, it was alleged that the accused, in collusion with others, misappropriated Tk 1,19,19,204 from the bank by submitting fake documents from December 26 of 2017 to June 21 of 2018.
Following the incident, Md Moniruzzaman, the then deputy manager of the branch, on June 23 of 2018, filed a case against them with Motijheel Police Station in this regard.
After an investigation, Abul Kalam, a deputy assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and also the investigation officer of the case, on February 19 of 2020, submitted the charge sheet against the accused.
On March 8, 2022, the court framed charges against them in the case.
