GK Shamim sentenced to five and a half yrs in prison in Tk 1.65b FDR, corruption case

A Dhaka court has sentenced contractor SM Golam Kibria Shamim (GK Shamim) to five and a half years in prison in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of acquiring assets beyond known sources of income.

His mother Ayesha Akhter has been acquitted in the same case.

Judge Md Rabiul Alam of Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 pronounced this verdict.

Bench assistant of the court Billal Hossain confirmed the news to Prothom Alo.

GK Shamim is in prison while his mother is absconding. GK Shamim was produced before the court from prison before the verdict was announced.

The case statement stated that at the time Shamim was arrested, documents of FDR (fixed deposit receipt) worth more than Tk 1.65 billion (Tk 165,27,65,000) in his mother’s name were seized during a raid of his office.

No information about this money was shown in Shamim’s or his mother’s income tax documents.

The ACC alleged that Ayesha Akhter helped her son Shamim commit crime by keeping his illegally earned money under her own name.

Earlier on 25 September 2022, Shamim and his seven bodyguards were sentenced to lifetime imprisonment in a case under the Arms Control Act.

On the other hand, the court sentenced Shamim to 10 years imprisonment and each of his seven bodyguards to four years imprisonment in a case under the Money Laundering Prevention Act on 17 July 2023.

The ACC filed a case against Shamim and his mother on 21 October 2019, on charges of acquiring assets beyond known income sources.

The ACC submitted a charge sheet against Shamim and his mother to the court under that case on 17 January 2021 and the court framed charges against them on 18 October 2022.

The law enforcement agencies had launched an “anti-casino drive” on 18 September 2018. Shamim was arrested on 20 September of that year and separate cases were filed against him under the arms, narcotics and money laundering acts.

According to the case documents, RAB seized Tk 18.1 million (Tk 1.81 crore) and US dollar worth Tk 747,000 in cash during a raid at Shamim’s office.

The ACC did not find any source of this money. In total, illegal assets worth more than Tk 2.97 billion (Tk 2,970,899,551) have been traced to Shamim.

According to the charge sheet of the money laundering case, Shamim has fixed deposits worth about Tk 2.278 billion (Tk 337 crore) in as many as 180 banks of the country.

Apart from that, he owns two houses and about 52 Kathas of land plots in Dhaka. These are worth Tk 410 million (Tk 41 crore).

Shamim acquired these assets through tender scams, extortion from bus terminals and cattle markets by intimidating people with his seven armed bodyguards.