Bangladesh court orders arrest of ex-PM’s son

Tareque Rahman: Facing charges of laundering $3mn.

AFP/Dhaka

A Bangladeshi court yesterday issued an arrest warrant for the eldest son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia on charges of laundering $3mn in Singapore, a lawyer said.

Bangladesh’s anti-graft watchdog in July 2010 charged Tareque Rahman and one of his business partners with laundering the money, which they allegedly took from a construction firm between 2003 and 2007.

The alleged transactions were made in Singapore, according to the prosecutors.

Rahman, son of two-times premier Zia who now heads the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been living in London since 2008.

The order came after Rahman appeared in a BNP party programme in London last week, and reiterated its demand that general elections scheduled for early next year be held under a neutral caretaker government.

Prosecutors said the Dhaka special judge’s court-3 issued the arrest warrant and ordered authorities to seek the help of Interpol.

“We have come to know through media he is in London now. So we have appealed to court that he should be brought back with the help of Interpol for the sake of the proper trial,” prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain said.

“He is a fugitive accused in the case because he did not show up deliberately despite repeated court notices. The court has accepted our plea and passed the order,” Hossain said.

He said Interpol would be asked to arrest Rahman, the senior vice chairman of the BNP.

The 47-year-old was detained in 2007 by an army-backed emergency government as part of its crackdown on graft. He was released 18 months later, amid allegations that he had been tortured while in custody, and left for London for medical treatment.

Rahman was frequently referred to as the most powerful man in Bangladesh when his mother was prime minister during her second term from 2001-2006.

Zia’s BNP party suffered a crushing defeat in elections in December 2008 at the hands of her bitter rival and current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.

Both women were charged during the emergency government’s rule on counts of corruption. Each spent a year behind bars, only to be released as part of deals to ensure they took part in the election.

Zia’s youngest son, Arafat Rahman Koko, also faces corruption charges.