CAAB licence inspector jailed for 5 years for taking bribe

A Dhaka court on Thursday sentenced a junior licence inspector of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) to five years' imprisonment for taking a bribe in exchange for facilitating the renewal of a pilot's licence and allowing a candidate to sit for a licensing examination.

Judge Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun of Dhaka's Special Judge Court-5 convicted HM Rashed Sarkar, state prosecutor Zahurul Islam said.

Rashed, who had been out on bail, appeared before the court for the delivery of the verdict. Following the judgment, the court cancelled his bail and sent him to jail.

The court also fined him Tk1 lakh, with an additional six months' imprisonment in default of payment. It ordered that the seized bribe money of Tk1 lakh be returned to the complainant and directed the confiscation of the mobile phone, laptop, iPad and credit card recovered from the convict in favour of the state.

According to the prosecution, Rakib Hasan passed the first-stage Air Law examination for obtaining a Commercial Pilot Licence in 2018. On 2 September 2019, he applied for the next-stage Composite examination after depositing the required examination fee of Tk4,000.

Rashed, who was serving as a junior licence inspector at CAAB in Kurmitola, Dhaka, allegedly cancelled Rakib's application through the online system on 27 November and again on 4 December 2019 before demanding Tk1 lakh in bribes to allow him to sit for the examination.

Rakib later handed over the money to Rashed at a restaurant in Sector 13 of Uttara on 6 December 2019. Rashed also confessed to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that he had accepted the bribe before being caught red-handed.

The ACC filed the case on the same day and submitted the charge sheet on 6 June 2022. The court framed charges against the accused on 6 March 2023 and began the trial. During the proceedings, it recorded the testimonies of 23 of the 24 prosecution witnesses before delivering the verdict.