Singapore freezes account of Bangladesh ex-premier Khaleda's son

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http://news-en.trend.az/world/wnews/1375455.html

Singapore freezes account of Bangladesh ex-premier Khaleda's son

Singapore authorities have frozen a bank account of the youngest son of Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia on suspicion of corruption, an official of the country's anti-graft body said on Thursday, dpa reported.

"The anti-corruption commission has launched an investigation into alleged siphoning of money from Bangladesh to Singapore by Arafat Rahman," Hanif Iqbal, the director general of the commission, told a press conference.

He added that the frozen amount was worth about 1.7 million US dollars.

The office of the Singapore attorney general informed the commission that they had temporarily confiscated just over two million Singapore dollars (1.44 million dollars) and more than 261,000 US dollars, held at a bank account there, following a request from Dhaka, Iqbal said.

The amount had been transferred between May 6, 2005 and February 22, 2007, and the transaction was made by a private company owned by Arafat Rahman, who is currently undergoing medical treatment in Thailand, following his release from custody in 2007.

Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission had in 2007 sought cooperation from the international community through a United Nations mechanism, to inform it if any of its citizens had deposited illegally-owned money in financial institutions abroad.

 

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‘Zia’s son deposited funds illegally in Singapore bank’
December 19th, 2008 - 12:06 pm ICT by IANS -

Dhaka, Dec 19 (IANS) In a poll eve embarrassment for former prime minister Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s anti-graft body has charged that her younger son had illegally deposited 111.3 million taka ($2.60 million) in a Singapore bank.A top official of Bangladesh’s Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) announced Thursday that the Singapore government anti-graft watchdog had supplied the information.

The ACC had assigned an officer to probe details of the money transactions by Arafat Rahman Koko, The Daily Star newspaper said Friday.

A businessman, Koko was jailed for graft for several months before being sent out on bail by a court for medical treatment in Singapore.

Zia’s elder son, Tarique, a politician, too has been convalescing for reported spine injury during his jail term.

Both have kept away from the poll scene, but Zia makes emotional appeals during the campaign alleging that the current caretaker government had impaired the health of her sons and delayed their medical treatment, calling it “political vendetta against my family”.

The ninth general election is due Dec 29 and Zia is in the midst of a hectic campaign, accusing both the caretaker government and the Election Commission of “planning” the poll in a partisan manner.

ACC Director General (Administration) Col. Hanif Iqbal told the media that Koko had transferred some of the funds to the Singapore branch of French bank Credit Industriel et Commercial after charges were pressed against him.

The transfers were to an account Koko holds in the name of a firm named ZASZ Trading and Consulting Pvt Ltd in Singapore, jointly with a Singapore national, who is Koko’s paid service agent.

The transactions have taken place since 2005, when Koko’s mother was the prime minister of Bangladesh. Non-resident foreigners cannot open a company in Singapore and need a Singaporean agent to do that, ACC sources said.

The Singapore government recently froze the ZASZ account and sent necessary documents to the ACC, prompting the commission to initiate legal procedures.

“Legal procedures have already been initiated and the commission is currently enquiring into the matter. Once the enquiry finds the allegations are true, legal proceedings will be taken against the persons involved and efforts will be made to bring back the money,” Iqbal said.

The ACC has already filed three other cases against Koko.