Harris handed 3yrs for keeping forex illegally

A Dhaka court yesterday sentenced Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to former prime minister Khaleda Zia, to three years' simple imprisonment for possession of huge foreign currencies.
In the meantime, six high government officials including a secretary in office were sent to jail custody after they surrendered to a Dhaka court yesterday in connection with a graft case regarding the sale of 18 abandoned government houses.
HARRIS CASE
Judge Sayed Jahed Mansur of Metropolitan Special Tribunal-9 handed down the verdict of the foreign currency possession case in Harris' absence in a packed courtroom.
The court also fined Harris Tk 10,000, in default of which he will have to serve six months more in prison. The punishment of the fugitive will be effective from the day of his arrest or surrender, the court said.
In his verdict, the judge said the charges brought against Harris were found to be true and therefore he was convicted of committing the offences.
Earlier, the prosecution and the defence had completed their arguments while the court recorded statements of 16 prosecution witnesses including the complainant and the investigation officer (IO) of the case.
On February 4, joint forces seized two briefcases from the Gulshan residence of Harris.
Foreign currencies were found in the briefcases when those were opened on April 2 in the presence of Metropolitan Magistrate Mir Ali Reza, sources said.
According to the case statement, Harris amassed the foreign currencies worth about Tk 5.64 lakh with a plan to smuggle those abroad.
On April 9, Gulshan police filed the case against Harris under the Money Laundering Act.
Sub-Inspector (SI) Babul Hossain of Gulshan Police Station, also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka showing 18 people as prosecution witnesses.
Earlier on May 22, a special court sentenced Harris to three years' imprisonment for not submitting his wealth statements to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) within the stipulated timeframe.
GOVERNMENT HOUSES CASE
The persons surrendered before the court are former Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) secretary and incumbent information secretary (OSD) Mir Mosharraf Hossain, chief engineer of Rajuk Reazul Manir, former Public Works Department (PWD) official Ziauddin Ahmed, former Purbachal Project director Abdus Sadeque, former chief executive engineers of Rajuk Emdadul Islam and Mohammad Ali.
Judge Mohammad Azizul Haque of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court sent them to jail custody after the four accompanied by their lawyers appeared before it.
Their lawyers told the court that their clients were not involved in the graft and they appeared before the court following arrest warrants issued against them.
Earlier on October 1, former Rajuk chairman and incumbent Civil Aviation and Tourism Secretary Shahid Alam, former housing and public works secretaries Iqbal Uddin Chowdhury and SM Jafarullah, and former Rajuk director Golam Nabi were also sent to jail custody upon their surrender to the same court.
A total of 25 individuals including the ten surrendered so far and the two arrested -- former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas and former Rajuk director Humayun Khan -- are accused of causing a loss of Tk 127.64 crore to the government exchequer by allegedly selling 18 abandoned government houses at nominal prices.
The same court on September 25 issued arrest warrants against former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, former prime minister Khaleda Zia's political secretary Harris Chowdhury, Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam and 20 others in the graft case.
The ACC filed the case against Abbas and 11 others on May 29. The names of Harris, Amir Khasru and 11 others were later added in the charge sheet as their involvement in the graft were found during investigation.
On September 20, Khairul Huda, assistant director of ACC, submitted the charge sheet against Mirza Abbas, Amir Khasru, Harris, three former secretaries and a number of high officials of Rajuk and Public Works Department (PWD).
CASE AGAINST HAFIZ
Charge sheet against Hafiz Ibrahim, detained former lawmaker of BNP, and his wife Mafruza Sultana Roni in connection with a graft case was submitted yesterday by the IO of the case, ACC Assistant Director Syed Tahsinul Haq.
On May 8, the couple were accused of concealing Tk 21,91,42,880 in their wealth statements submitted earlier to the ACC.
Roni was earlier granted bail from the High Court until submission of the police report.