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Bangladesh

Ex-Bangladesh PM's son sentenced to jail

2011-06-24

[Emirates 24/7] A Bangladeshi court on Thursday sentenced the younger son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... to six years in prison for laundering nearly ê1 million through bank accounts in Singapore, a lawyer said. Arafat Rahman Koko, who was tried in absentia and is currently in Bangkok, was fined $5.2 million for the crimes, carried out when his mother was last in power between 2001 and 2006, said state lawyer Mosharaf Hossain. "The court has convicted Arafat Rahman Koko and given him six years' imprisonment... for earning money illegally and laundering money through Singapore," Hossain, who represented the government in the case, told AFP. "He will be nabbed when he gets back from Bangkok or -- as there is an agreement between Thailand and Bangladesh -- there is the possibility the government will begin extradition proceedings against him," he added. The court also sentenced Ismail Hossain Saimon, son of a former shipping minister and a co-accused in the case, to six years in prison and the same fine, Hossain said, adding that Saimon is currently on the run. Analysts said the verdict could trigger street demonstrations by Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies, who have dismissed the charges against Koko as politically motivated. The BNP has recently staged protests against the government's plan to scrap a system of holding national elections under a neutral caretaker administration. Koko was frequently referred to as one of the most powerful men in Bangladesh when his mother was prime minister for her second term from 2001 to 2006. Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) suffered a crushing defeat in elections in December to her bitter rival and current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Both women were charged with corruption during the regime of a 2007 to 2009 army-backed caretaker government, and each spent a year behind bars only to be released as part of deals to ensure they took part in the election. Zia's eldest son, Tareque Rahman, also faces a string of corruption charges. He is currently living in London.

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Bangladesh

Ex-Bangladesh PM's son crippled by torture

2008-08-25

Tareque Rahman, the eldest son and heir apparent of two times former Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia, was partially paralysed when tortured in custody, doctors said Sunday. Tareque was strung up blindfolded in a dark room, then dropped down and struck against a wall, fracturing two bones in his back, Kazi Mazharul Islam, the doctor who treated him quoted from his medical report. Rahman was partially paralysed by the impact of the fall, which has resulted in "gradual wasting of his right lower limbs," he said. Rahman, who is joint secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been detained since March last year on graft charges after the government launched an anti-corruption crackdown.

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Bangladesh

Khaleda, son charged with corruption

2007-09-27

Bangladesh’s anti-corruption agency filed charges Wednesday against the former prime minister’s son, his wife and mother-in-law accusing them of acquiring their wealth illegally, an official said. The Anti-Corruption Commission charged Tareque Rahman, the businessman son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with amassing 48 million takas (US$711,530) in assets that did not tally with his legally declared income. Rahman’s physician wife, Zubaida, and her mother, Syeda Iqbalmand Banu, were accused of aiding him, commission official Zahurul Huda said after filing the corruption case at a police station in the capital, Dhaka. Rahman is already being detained on separate criminal charges, while his wife and mother-in-law are yet to be arrested. They face stiff jail terms and fines if convicted. Zia and another son, Arafat Rahman, are in jail pending trial on graft charges. Security forces in recent months have arrested more than 150 high-profile corruption suspects - including politicians, bureaucrats and businesspeople - in a crackdown by the country’s military-backed interim government. The suspects, including another ex-prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, face charges ranging from graft and extortion to tax evasion and becoming rich through abuse of power. The interim government has vowed to fight corruption, reform electoral rules and clean up the nation’s factional and often violent politics before holding the next elections in 2008.

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Bangladesh

Khaleda's party on verge of split

2007-09-06

The party of Bangladesh’s jailed former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia is on the verge of spliting after partymen said her decision to sack two top aides was unacceptable, officials said. Khaleda, the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested on Monday for alleged corruption along with her businessmen son, as part of a campaign launched by country’s army-backed interim administration to root out graft. Hours before her arrest, Khaleda sacked long-time party secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and his deputy Ashraf Hossain, saying the two men had acted against the party’s interests. The charges referred to the two officials’ attempts in recent months to reform the BNP which had been tightly controlled by Khaleda, the country’s most recent prime minister. The reformers, backed by a large number of partymen, had sought to drastically reduce Khaleda’s powers. “We will take our own stand and make the party fully democratic and its leadership accountable,” Hossain told reporters. Khaleda, who ended a five-year second term last October, is facing various charges of corruption and abuse of power, that is also blamed for the meteoric rise of her son and likely heir Tareque Rahman. Tareque is also in jail, awaiting trial by a special court. President to stay: President Iajuddin Ahmed, whose five-year term expires on Wednesday, will continue as the country’s ceremonial head of state until an elected government replaces the present army-backed interim administration, a senior government official said. “This is quite in line with the constitution which says only an elected parliament can appoint a president,” Mainul Husein, law and information adviser to the caretaker government, told reporters late on Tuesday. “As per the constitution, he has to continue until the election of his successor.” Iajuddin, 76, a former Dhaka University teacher, was appointed president on Sept 5, 2002, by then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year tenure in October last year. Although Bangladesh’s presidency is largely a figurehead post, Iajuddin is the constitutional head of the country’s armed forces. After Khaleda stepped down, Iajuddin briefly took over as head of a caretaker government responsible for holding the next election. But he relinquished the job in favour of incumbent caretaker chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former central bank governor and the army’s choice. Fakhruddin took charge in January this year. Since then, he has run the country with the army’s backing and under a state of emergency.

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Bangladesh

Bangla ex-minister jailed for 13 years for graft

2007-06-22

An anti-corruption court in Bangladesh on Thursday sentenced a former minister to 13 years in jail for amassing wealth through illegal means, the first conviction of a government leader since a crackdown began this year. The court also handed a three-year sentence to Amanullah Aman’s wife for giving false information on their personal wealth to the anti-corruption commission that is investigating scores of politicians for graft and abuse of power. Aman, who was state minister for labour and employment, is the first member of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s cabinet to be convicted for corruption since the army-backed interim administration began the drive. The court also ordered Aman to pay a fine of one million taka ($14,500) or serve another year in jail. The couple’s assets have been confiscated. More than 170 key political figures including Khaleda’s elder son and political heir Tareque Rahman have been detained in the anti-corruption hunt aimed at cleaning up politics before elections expected late next year. The special court last month sentenced an aide of Khaleda and the owner of a private television channel for extortion.

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Bangladesh

Bangladesh's top leaders may be forced out

2007-06-21

The leaders of Bangladesh’s main political parties are likely to lose their positions as a result of an anti-graft crackdown by the country’s emergency government, a minister said Wednesday. “We are filing corruption cases as part of overall reforms. We are not doing it to settle scores,” interim law minister Moinul Hosein told the private ATN television channel. “The legal process we have initiated will not even allow many to stay as leaders because of their involvement in corruption,” Hosein added. The minister’s comments came amid flurry of reports that reformists in Bangladesh’s two main parties have planned sweeping changes that may force out two former prime ministers as rival party heads. Khaleda Zia, a two-time prime minister and the leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), reportedly faces a rebellion and would be asked to quit as party chief by a reformist group led by her party’s secretary general. Sheikh Hasina Wajed, who was premier between 1996 and 2001 and the leader of Awami League, also faces similar rebellion, according to reports in newspapers. The two have dominated the political landscape since 1991 after military dictator Hussain Mohammad Ershad was forced out. Sheikh Hasina has been charged with corruption in at least half a dozen cases by the military-backed government. Her bitter rival, Zia, is also under investigation for corruption. Zia’s elder son and heir apparent, Tareque Rahman, has also been arrested and charged with extortion. Supporters barred from visiting Hasina: The government has barred party colleagues from visiting former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a spokesman for the politician said on Wednesday. Police have not allowed anyone except Hasina’s close relatives to enter her Dhaka residence since Tuesday evening. “We are not allowed to go in, as if Sheikh Hasina is under house arrest,” press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told Reuters. A senior police officer said security around the residence of Hasina, top leader of the Awami League, and that of Begum Khaleda Zia, her bitter rival and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been tightened following what he said had been visible commotions in their parties over proposed reforms. Groups of leaders and activists have been meeting separately over proposals for internal party reform in both parties.

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Bangladesh

Begums isolated in anti-graft drive

2007-06-04

BANGLADESH’S former prime ministers, struggling to maintain their political clout, are becoming increasingly isolated as the army-backed interim government pushes harder in its hunt for corrupt politicians. Political analysts and officials say Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, rivals who between them ruled the country for 15 years, face mounting pressure to quit as heads of their respective parties to make way for new leadership. Hasina, daughter of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Khaleda, widow of general turned president Ziaur Rahman, head the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) respectively, the countries’ biggest parties. Demands for introducing stronger democratic elements in the parties - closer to autocracies now - are also gaining ground, analysts and officials say. “I feel that Hasina and Khaleda have crossed the optimum level of their contribution to the country, for which people have given them sufficient honour,” said Syed Mohammad Ibrahim, a political and defence analyst. “But now they (Hasina and Khaleda) seem unable to read the writings on the wall,” said Ibrahim, a retired army major-general. “The parties surely deserve changes in their leadership for the better.” Analysts say one concern is the possibility the two leaders could be charged in corruption cases and be barred from contesting elections for at least three years, if convicted. Both women say they, not the interim government, are the true defenders of democracy in Bangladesh, and deny the accusations against them, saying the charges have been trumped up by critics and opponents. But the repeated reports of widespread corruption and abuse of power by the top leaders and party stalwarts have rocked the parties and strengthened demands for drastic reforms. More than 170 senior politicians from BNP and the Awami League have been detained by security forces and hundreds more are on the run since the army-backed interim government imposed a state of emergency on January 11, cancelled an election planned for Jan. 22 and banned all political activity. Better times ahead? The interim authority, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, says it plans to hold the election before the end of 2008, after erasing political corruption and completing reforms to make the election free, fair and credible. Analysts say most Bangladeshis support the government and hope it can usher cleaner politics and broader democracy into the impoverished south Asian country of more than 140 million people. The view that changes were needed was reinforced after some of the detained leaders, including Awami general secretary Abdul Jalil, reportedly made allegations to interrogators of serious wrongdoings by Hasina. Khaleda’s junior home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar also revealed startling accounts of corruption and abuse of power which pointed a finger at Khaleda. The reports related to the two leaders have been widely published in Bangladesh media, dominating front pages. Khaleda’s elder son and political heir Tareque Rahman has been in jail since March facing charges of extortion, while her younger son Arafat Rahman - though not arrested yet - faces similar charges, police have said. Hasina faces charges of extortion, murders linked to political violence and graft in deals made to buy MiG-29 planes and a frigate while in power. Political science professor Ataur Rahman of the Dhaka University, said: “They are getting isolated because they have failed to show their commitment to political reform that is necessary at this point of transition to a new democracy.” “If Bangladesh has to evolve a new democratic order, this old top leadership must step down making way for a new generation of dynamic and responsible leadership,” said Rahman, who also heads the Bangladesh Political Science Association. Hasina’s parliamentary affairs adviser Suranjit Sen Gupta, a former lawmaker, said: “Things have taken a new turn and we are observing closely.” He declined to elaborate.

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Bangladesh

Khaleda sez she's not going

2007-04-24

Former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia has pulled back from a reported deal with the army-backed interim government to go into exile, intelligence officials said on Monday. “She has conveyed her final decision (to the government) not to go abroad in a while,” said one official, who asked not to be identified. In another setback for the administration, a court suspended an arrest warrant against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday, a day after it had issued the order citing a murder charge. The suspension came after a police officer investigating the case told the court the charges were flawed and he needed more time to reinvestigate. Hasina has been refused permission to return home from holiday abroad on grounds that it could trigger unrest in the country, while Khaleda has reportedly been kept under house arrest pending forced exile. Khaleda’s close associates said the 60-year-old former premier was ill with low blood pressure and knee pains, and “she will not go out”. Last week, sources within the government and Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had reported an agreement between her and the authorities. Under it, Khaleda was to go into exile to Saudi Arabia, along with her younger son Arafat Rahman and most family members, in return for leniency for her jailed elder son and political heir apparent, Tareque Rahman. The deal stood firm until Friday, but faltered at the weekend when Khaleda associates said she had changed her mind. That's because she had what she wanted, which was her kid out of jug. She doesn't have the brains to realize he can go back easily enough... “She is now unwilling to go, and pressure on her to leave the country also eased over the last couple of days,” an intelligence official told Reuters, without elaborating. “Yes, the scenario has changed and she will not go,” said a close associate of Khaleda on Monday.

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Bangladesh

Zia sets new demands before exile

2007-04-21

DHAKA - Bangladesh’s last prime minister Khaleda Zia has asked the military-backed government to immediately free her son and allow her one last party meeting before she leaves for exile, a report said Friday. Zia ‘has been trying to delay the departure as the government is yet to settle some issues including her demand that her son Tareque be allowed to go with her,’ a family source told the leading New Age newspaper. Just go already! The interim military-backed government is forcing Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), out of the country as part of a campaign to clean up the country’s dysfunctional and notoriously corrupt political system. Her arch-rival, Awami League leader Shaikh Hasina Wajed, has also been barred from returning to the country from holiday. Many blame the two harridans women for the political turmoil that led to the imposition of emergency rule in January and the cancellation of elections later that month. A deal for her to leave for Saudi Arabia quietly reportedly involves authorities showing leniency for her two sons, who face corruption and extortion allegations as part of the interim government’s crackdown. Her elder son Tareque Rahman, however, is still behind bars. "Ma! Ya still comin' to git me, ain'tcha Ma?!" ‘The government is yet to fulfil another of her demands to allow her to meet some senior BNP leaders to settle how the party would be run in her absence,’ the source told the paper. Much like Capone tried to run Chicago from prison ... But the Daily Star newspaper said Zia was expected to meet her elder son on Friday at Dhaka central jail before possibly flying out of the country later in the day. ‘Khaleda along with her younger son, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren might fly for Saudia Arabia on Friday,’ a source told the newspaper.

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Bangladesh

Petition Filed in Court to Block Harridan's Exile

2007-04-21

A supporter of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia lodged a petition in court yesterday to block efforts by the army-backed government to send her into exile. Babul Chowdhury, a member of a front organization of Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), filed the writ in the High Court saying it was a human rights violation to force her to leave the country or “put her under house arrest.” Khaleda has been under virtual confinement at her home for nearly two weeks. Sources in the army-backed interim government and Khaleda’s party said earlier this week she had entered a deal with authorities to go abroad in return for dealing leniently with her jailed elder son and political heir apparent Tareque Rahman. Reports said that under the same deal authorities released Khaleda’s younger son Arafat Rahman just 24 hours after he was detained. But on Wednesday Khaleda’s close associates said she had changed her mind and now wanted to stay in Bangladesh. The high court said it would examine and rule on the writ on Sunday. Analysts said Khaleda’s decision to fight to stay in the country may have been encouraged by her rival Hasina Wajed’s determination to return to Bangladesh against government orders. Hasina, herself a former prime minister, arrived in London yesterday from a private visit to the United States and will fly home to Dhaka early on Monday, officials of her Awami League party said. Hasina has vowed to defy the government’s bar on her return to the country. She said that “nothing would stop” her return to participate in elections and defend herself against charges of murder and extortion.

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Bangladesh

Khaleda's second son arrested

2007-04-17

Authorities in Bangladesh have arrested a second son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, officials said Monday, as the a military-backed interim government stepped up its anti-corruption drive. Military-led security forces arrested Zia’s younger son Arafat Rahman Coco in the capital Dhaka on Sunday evening, a senior police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The arrest came just a month after Zia’s influential eldest son, Tareque Rahman was arrested on charges of extortion. While Tareque had been groomed as his mother’s political successor, Arafat has maintained a low profile. He owns several companies and ferries that carry goods and passengers on the delta nation’s river network and was a patron of the country’s cricket board. The military-backed government has so far arrested more than 50 top politicians since launching its anti-graft drive in February. The new government vowed to clean up politics and carry out sweeping reforms before announcing a new date for elections. Last week the head of the government pledged that the polls would be held before the end of 2008. Zia, who was prime minister until her five-year term ended in October, has been under virtual house arrest since last week. A source close to the former premier Monday accused the government of trying to “blackmail” Zia into self-imposed exile abroad.

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Bangladesh

Trial opens for Khaleda's son

2007-03-30

The extortion trial of Tareque Rahman, a son of former Bangladeshi prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, opened on Thursday amid a nationwide crackdown on graft. Tareque, eldest son of the country’s last prime minister, was produced before quick-trial court judge Abdur Rouf Khan, who asked prosecutors for evidence to substantiate their charges. “After hearing lawyers from both sides, the judge set the next date for hearing on April 5, with a target to complete the trial by late May,” a court registrar said. Quick-trial courts are expected to complete trials within 60 days. Khaleda ended her five-year term as prime minister in October and handed power to an interim authority which is now headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed. Tareque was among more than 160 senior political figures to be arrested. Witnesses said police escorted a pale-looking Tareque, joint secretary-general of Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and her heir-apparent, into the packed court. He has been charged with illegally taking 10 million taka ($145,000) in January from the owner of a construction firm.

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