Ex-Bangladesh PM's son faces new corruption charges
Tue, Oct 27, 2009
AFP
DHAKA - Bangladesh's top anti-corruption body has charged the eldest son of ex-premier Khaleda Zia with laundering three million dollars to bank accounts in Singapore, police said Tuesday.
Dhaka police chief Hosne Ara said the Anti-Corruption Commission had filed charges against Zia's son Tareque Rahman and his friend Giasuddin Al Mamum.
"They are charged with laundering 204 million taka (2.95 million US dollars) to banks including Citibank in Singapore," he said.
The ACC lead investigator Mohammad Ibrahim told AFP that the money was allegedly received by Mammum from a construction company in exchange for awarding a state power plant contract, he said.
"Tareque is an accused as he was also a beneficiary of the money," he said, adding that the cash had been clawed back from Singapore by the government.
This is the second case the ACC has filed against Zia's eldest son, long considered as her heir apparent. He is also a senior joint-secretary general of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Tareque was frequently referred to as the most powerful man in Bangladesh when Zia was prime minister in her second term from 2001-2006.
He was arrested by an army-backed emergency government, which ruled for two years from January 2007, as part of a nationwide crackdown on graft.
He is now abroad seeking medical treatment and alleges he was tortured in custody.
In September, a Dhaka court ruled that Zia and her eldest son should go on trial after they were charged with embezzling more than 300,000 US dollars meant for an orphanage.
They denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.
Zia's youngest son, Arafat Rahman Koko, also faces corruption charges and is accused of laundering more than 2.7 million US dollars through bank accounts in Singapore. He is also abroad for medical treatment.
Tue, Oct 27, 2009
AFP
DHAKA - Bangladesh's top anti-corruption body has charged the eldest son of ex-premier Khaleda Zia with laundering three million dollars to bank accounts in Singapore, police said Tuesday.
Dhaka police chief Hosne Ara said the Anti-Corruption Commission had filed charges against Zia's son Tareque Rahman and his friend Giasuddin Al Mamum.
"They are charged with laundering 204 million taka (2.95 million US dollars) to banks including Citibank in Singapore," he said.
The ACC lead investigator Mohammad Ibrahim told AFP that the money was allegedly received by Mammum from a construction company in exchange for awarding a state power plant contract, he said.
"Tareque is an accused as he was also a beneficiary of the money," he said, adding that the cash had been clawed back from Singapore by the government.
This is the second case the ACC has filed against Zia's eldest son, long considered as her heir apparent. He is also a senior joint-secretary general of Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Tareque was frequently referred to as the most powerful man in Bangladesh when Zia was prime minister in her second term from 2001-2006.
He was arrested by an army-backed emergency government, which ruled for two years from January 2007, as part of a nationwide crackdown on graft.
He is now abroad seeking medical treatment and alleges he was tortured in custody.
In September, a Dhaka court ruled that Zia and her eldest son should go on trial after they were charged with embezzling more than 300,000 US dollars meant for an orphanage.
They denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.
Zia's youngest son, Arafat Rahman Koko, also faces corruption charges and is accused of laundering more than 2.7 million US dollars through bank accounts in Singapore. He is also abroad for medical treatment.
