Son of Bangladesh ex-PM jailed in graft probe

Dhaka, March 13: Police in Bangladesh said today they had jailed Tareque Rahman, a son of Bangladesh's former prime minister, after a court remanded him for a month pending full investigation of corruption charges.

A Dhaka magistrate's court gave the order yesterday after it rejected Tareque's bail petition.

Tareque, elder son of Begum Khaleda Zia, was arrested on March 7 in an army-led drive against corruption and misuse of power.

A joint secretary-general of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Tareque is among more than 160 senior political figures detained since Bangladesh imposed a state of emergency on January 11.

Khaleda ended her five-year term as prime minister in October and handed power to an interim authority, now headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed.

Fakhruddin has vowed to eliminate corruption from politics and government before announcing a date for parliamentary elections.

An election planned for January 22 was postponed in the wake of widespread political violence.

Police said Tareque, often tipped as Khaleda's political heir, was shifted to the Dhaka Central Jail from the court around last night midnight.

Usually courts finish their day's business before sunset but sometimes sit at night for security reasons, police said.

Police produced Tareque in the court in a bullet-proof jacket after four days of questioning by joint security forces, led by the army.

He is facing charges of amassing huge wealth through corrupt means. Among the accusations before the court is that he took a 10 million taka (145,000 dollars) bribe from a businessman, police said.

A second bail petition by Tareque is due to be heard on March 19, court officials said.

If convicted, Tareque could face a jail term of up to five years as well as a fine, lawyers say.

Bangladesh's Election Commission is working on a new law that would permanently ban anyone convicted of a crime from contesting elections.

Tareque was preparing to contest a constituency in his home district Bogra, in the north of the country, in the coming polls.

Reuters>