STAFF CORRESPONDENT

A special court yesterday sentenced deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years’ imprisonment and her niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, to four years in two cases involving the Purbachal plot scam in Dhaka.

Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka also handed down seven-year prison terms to Hasina’s other niece Azmina Siddiq and nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, each in one of the two cases, said ACC Public Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam.

The verdicts were delivered in absentia, and trials in each of the two cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) were completed within 15 hearings, according to court records.

The court found Hasina guilty of abusing her power to illegally secure two plots under a Rajuk housing project in Dhaka’s Purbachal for Azmina and Bobby, despite the duo being ineligible.

Tulip, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate in London, was found guilty of influencing Hasina to secure the plots for her siblings, Azmina and Bobby -- an allegation she had earlier rejected.

Hasina and Tulip were also fined Tk 2 lakhs each in two cases with an additional one-year imprisonment in the event of default, while Azmina and Bobby were fined Tk one lakh in a case, defaulting which they will have to serve six months more in jail.

Between November 27 and December 1 last year, Hasina, now in India, was sentenced to 26 years’ rigorous imprisonment in four other cases involving the plot scam. Her daughter Saima Wazed Putul and son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and sister Sheikh Rehana and Tulip were also convicted in one of four cases each.

From January 12 to 14 last year, the ACC filed all six cases with its Dhaka Integrated District Office-1 over On

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