Civil Aviation official jailed for 5 years in bribery case
In its order, the court directed that the Tk1 lakh recovered as the bribe be returned to the complainant.
A Dhaka court today (9 July) sentenced Rashed Sarkar, a junior licensing inspector at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), to five years' rigorous imprisonment and fined him Tk1 lakh for accepting a bribe in exchange for facilitating the renewal of a pilot's licence and allowing the applicant to sit for an examination.
The verdict was delivered by Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun of Dhaka's Special Judge's Court 5, Public Prosecutor Zahirul Islam confirmed it.
"Failure to pay the fine will result in a further six months' imprisonment," the verdict added.
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In its order, the court directed that the Tk1 lakh recovered as the bribe be returned to the complainant.
It also ordered the confiscation in favour of the state of a mobile phone, laptop, iPad and credit cards recovered from the convicted official.
However, defence lawyers expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, saying they would appeal to the High Court.
Rashed, who had been out on bail, appeared before the court prior to the announcement of the verdict.
Following the ruling, the court issued a warrant committing him to prison.
According to the case statement, Rashed demanded Tk1 lakh from complainant in exchange for allowing him to sit the Composite examination, a requirement related to pilot licensing.
Following the demand, the complainant handed over the money.
ACC officials challenged Rashed immediately after the transaction, during which he admitted to accepting the bribe.
He was arrested at the scene.
A case was filed later that day, 6 December 2019, by Tahsin Mosabil Haque, assistant director of the ACC.
