Ex-Minister gets 13 years for graft

BANGLADESH: A former Bangladeshi minister was jailed for 13 years by a special anti-corruption court set up by the country’s emergency government, an official said.

Amanullah Aman, of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was a labour and employment minister under the last BNP-led government which stood down last October.

The court also sentenced Aman’s wife Sabera to three years, said police inspector Saiful Islam.

“The judge ordered the authorities to confiscate their property,” he said, adding that Aman received ten years for amassing illegal earnings and three years, to be served consecutively, for failing to disclose information about his financial affairs.

More than 150 high-ranking politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats are in detention as part of a massive corruption crackdown launched by the military-backed government in February.

Dhaka, Friday, AFP