December 28, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 17, 1428

DHAKA, Dec 27: A Bangladesh court sentenced a tycoon hiding abroad to life imprisonment on Thursday for stealing one-million dollars under the emergency government’s anti-graft drive, a prosecutor said.

Obaidul Karim, who fled Bangladesh after the military-backed government began the corruption crackdown early this year, was found guilty of taking the money from a bank in 2005, state prosecutor Sheikh Hafiz said.

Karim, chairman of Bangladesh’s powerful Orion Group, opened an account under a false name, and then in collusion with employees at the Oriental Bank, in which his family owned a controlling stake, transferred the funds for his own use, prosecutors said. “The special corruption court judge sentenced him to life for misappropriating 67 million taka ($1 million). He was also fined the same amount,” Hafiz said.

Four bank employees were sentenced to three years in jail.

Karim, whose company has stakes in pharmaceuticals, construction, textiles and the media, enjoyed close ties with the elder son of former premier Khaleda Zia, the court was told.—AFP