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Ershad sentenced to five-year term for corruption

Former Bangladesh President Hussain Mohammad Ershad was Thursday sentenced to five years simple imprisonment and fined 55 million taka by the Dhaka High Court which found the former military ruler guilty of corruption.

A division bench of the high court, upholding a lower court conviction, also scrapped Ershad's membership in the current parliament and ordered him to surrender before it immediately. In case of default in paying the fine, Ershad will have to undergo an additional two-year term.

The court also ordered confiscation of a multi-storeyed building along with the land belonging to Ershad.

A lower court in 1993 had sentenced Ershad, who heads the Jatiya Party, to seven years imprisonment for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Six other accused include his wife Raushan and former minister Abdus Sattar, who faced charges of complicity in the case.

Ershad, who seized power in a 1982 bloodless military coup, ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly nine years before bowing out in December 1990 following a massive pro-democracy campaign.

Ershad has served a jail term for abuse of power and corruption before he was released on bail by the Supreme Court in January 1997.

Ershad's Jatiya Party provided crucial support to the Awami League in forming government in 1996. He later switched sides to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and is now part of the four-party opposition alliance headed by BNP.

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