DHAKA, 27 August 2007 — A district court sentenced the mayor of a northern Bangladeshi town to 13 years in prison yesterday for extortion, news reports said, the latest conviction in an ongoing interim government’s campaign to crack down on corruption.
Mizanur Rahman was arrested in June on suspicion of demanding kickbacks to allow a college to build a new facility in Rajshahi city, 230 km northwest of Dhaka, sources said.
Yesterday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Zahirul Haq sentenced Rahman to 13 years in prison, and handed down similar sentences to 10 of his associates who were accused in the same case, the report said.
Rahman was present in the court when the verdict was delivered, however his lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment.
Mizanur Rahman is the fourth mayor to be tried in an ongoing anti-corruption crackdown by the country’s military-backed interim government since it came to power late last year.
Three other mayors of Chittagong, Sylhet and Barisal out of total six are now in prison on charges of corruption.
Dozens of top politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen accused of amassing wealth through corruption or misuse of power have been arrested under the campaign to clean up the impoverished country’s political, business and public service sectors.
