Former minister's wife, a UN officer arrested in graft case

Dhaka, July 5 (UNI) The wife of a detained ex-minister of Bangladesh and a UN rapporteur, Sigma Huda, was arrested and sent in jail in a graft case here today.

Her husband former communications minister Barrister Nazmul Huda was earlier arrested by the army-led joint forces on charges of corruption.

The Huda couple is now facing the same case of corruption.

Earlier, the High Court ordered the police not to arrest Mrs Huda for eight weeks, till July 4.

Police arrested her when she surrendered today before a trial court handling the graft case against her.

Mrs Huda is a UN rapporteur of Bangladesh chapter on women trafficking.

The court framed charges against the Huda couple for taking 2.40 crore taka in bribe from a construction firm during Nazmul Huda's term as communications minister in the of the government of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia.

Police said ''Detained Huda who faces a number of criminal charges, including an arms case, was brought to the court in a prison van amid tight security while his co-accused wife Sigma came in an ambulance with standby oxygen cylinder with her.'' A firsthand account of the court proceedings says, ''As she surrendered, she was taken into custody.'' Sigma Huda, the Secretary General of Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR), was later sent to jail by court orders.

The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against the Huda couple on March 21 for taking 2.40 crore taka in bribe from Mir Zahir Hossain, owner of a construction firm.

UNI