Bangladesh ex-minister jailed on graft charge

DHAKA, Aug 27 (Reuters) A Bangladesh court sentenced today former minister, Nazmul Huda, to seven years in jail for taking a bribe of 24 million taka (350,000 dollar) from a construction firm, court officials said.

Huda served as communications minister in the government of most recent prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. The court also ordered Huda's wife, Sigma Huda, to serve three years in jail for abetting her husband in accepting the bribe, lawyers said.

More than 170 senior politicians, including over a dozen former ministers and a son of Khaleda Zia, have been detained for alleged corruption since an army-backed interim government took charge in Bangladesh in January.

Several of them, who served under both Khaleda and her rival Sheikh Hasina, also a former prime minister, have already been convicted and sentenced to various prison terms.

The interim authority, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, has promised to hold a free and fair election around the end of next year after completing the drive against corruption.

REUTERS RN BD1427