Dhaka, Jan. 12 -- A Chattogram court has sentenced former Cox's Bazar municipality mayor Nurul Absar to five years' rigorous imprisonment over "misappropriation of public funds".

Judge Md Mizanur Rahman of the Chattogram Divisional Special Judges Court delivered the verdict on Monday.

Court clerk Md Shahed said the former mayor has been fined Tk 2.9 million, equal to the amount allegedly embezzled. Failure to pay the sum will result in an additional six months of incarceration.

The convict remains at large after absconding while on bail, he added.

The case was filed in 1991 by the then Anti-Corruption Commission, accusing Absar of misappropriating Tk 2.91 million from municipal development funds during his tenure as mayor between 1984...