A court sentenced BangladeshÂ’s ex-home minister to 13 years in prison Monday for hiding illegally acquired wealth, a lawyer said. Judge M Foriz Alam of a special anti-corruption court convicted Mohammad Nasim of failing to disclose wealth worth 10.26 million takas (US$185,294) that did not tally with his declared income, Faruk Quazi, a lawyer attending the proceedings said. Nasim, who served as the powerful home minister during 1996-2001, was arrested early this year in a government crackdown on corruption. The court also handed NasimÂ’s wife, Laila Arzuman Banu, a three-year prison term for abetting her husband. Banu was tried in absentia.
| "Hello, Mother?... I'm going to be out of the country for awhile... Yes. In Fiji... How long? At a guess, 10, maybe 15 years." |
Bangladesh has been rated as one of the worldÂ’s most corrupt nation by Transparency International, an anti-corruption watchdog based in Berlin, Germany.