DHAKA, Oct 7: A former Bangladesh and Asian cricket chief was sentenced to 13 years in jail on Sunday as part of the emergency government’s crackdown on corruption, a state prosecutor said.

Ali Asghar Lobi, who served as president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for five years, was jailed for amassing illegal wealth worth 240 million taka (3.5 million dollars) and concealing income, anti-graft prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kazal said.

“The special court has jailed Lobi (for) ten years for amassing a huge amount of illegal wealth. He was also sentenced (to) three years in jail for concealing income to the anti-corruption commission,” he said.

Lobi, a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) lawmaker, was also fined one million taka and had his illegally-held property confiscated. His wife, Khusnud Asgar, was also jailed for three years as an accessory.

Lobi, 55, served as the president of the BCB until 2006, when the BNP ended its five-year tenure. He also served as the president of the Asian Cricket Council in 2002-2004.

In July, a fast-track court set up by the emergency government sentenced Lobi to eight years in jail for dodging more than 2.4 million dollars in tax.

The prosecutor said the jail terms would have to be served consecutively.

The former official is one of about 150 prominent graft suspects – from both the BNP and the former main opposition Awami League – who have been detained by the military-backed government.—AFP