Staff Correspondent

A special court that deals with corruption suspects sentenced former foreign minister M Morshed Khan to 13 years in jail on Monday on twin charges of obtaining illegal wealth and concealing information about assets.

Judge M Sirajul Islam also fined the BNP leader Tk 10 lakh or he will have to stay another year behind bars in failure to pay the fine.

The Special Court-7 set up on Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex also ordered authorities to confiscate his illegal wealth worth Tk 82 lakh.

Morshed is currently in Singapore, along with his family.

The sentencing consists of two terms: 10 years for amassing illegal wealth and three years for suppressing wealth information. The jail terms against the former minister will be effective from the day of his arrest or surrender.

Anticorruption Commission assistant director Abu Taleb filed the case with Gulshan Police Station on June 23 last year against Morshed and wife Nasrin Khan on charges of accumulating illegal wealth worth Tk 1.70 crore and suppressing information about assets in a wealth statement to the graft watchdog.

The High Court scrapped the charges against Nasrin after she filed a writ petition.