Published : Saturday, 7 March, 2015, Time : 12:00 AM, View Count : 79
A US Court in New York sentenced a Bangladeshi-origin US citizen - Rizvi Ahmed Caesar - to 42 months imprisonment for his attempts to bribe an FBI agent to collect information on Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, 36, son of Mohammad Ullah Mamun, Vice-President of BNP's cultural wing Jasas, was sentenced by US District Judge Vincent L Briccetti of the Southern District of New York on Wednesday. Rizve also confessed that he was advised by BNP high command only to collect information on Joy and for that, he would get half a million US dollar as reward. Further, Rizve convinced two of his American co-conspirators, both FBI agents to pay them $40,000 upfront and $30,000 per month if they can accomplish their job. Rizve also wanted them to erase all criminal records on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's two sons Arafat Rahman Koko and BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tariq Zia from US FBI or intelligence records. A Connecticut-resident, Caesar, had earlier pleaded guilty to bribing Special Agent Robert Lustyik for confidential documents and secret information of US law enforcing agencies in between September 2011 through March 2012. He requested the confidential information to help him locate and harm his political rival and others associated with the intended victim, a US Justice Department statement said. He is currently on bail and will have to report to jail authorities on Apr 20. Both of them were arrested on Aug 13, 2013. In October, they pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services fraud. Robert Lustyik, Johannes Thaler pleaded guilty on Dec 23, 2014, to all five counts against him in the indictment: conspiracy to engage in a bribery scheme; soliciting bribes by a public official; conspiracy to defraud the citizens of the US and the FBI; theft of government property; and unauthorised disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 30, 2015 and could face up to 25 years in prison. The justice department has not divulged the identity of the person whose information Caesar was trying to collect.