DHAKA, 27 September 2007 — The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed a graft case against former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tareque Rahman, his wife and mother in-law for possessing wealth not commensurate with their known sources of income and concealing information about their assets.
Tareque is also Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior joint secretary general.
The ACC filed the corruption case against Tareque Rahman, his wife Dr. Jobaida Rahman and mother-in-law Iqbalmand Banu, for possessing assets worth over 42.3 million taka, which was not mentioned in their statement submitted to the commission. Tareque was arrested from his mother’s residence in Dhaka on March 8. Since then he has been in Dhaka jail without any charge of corruption brought against him.
Meanwhile, Khaleda, now detained in a makeshift jail, has denied allegations she was involved in awarding a contract to GATCO for container handling.
Talking to reporters yesterday retired Brig. Gen. Hannan Shah said Khaleda had rejected her involvement in the matter.
Khaleda said that as the prime minister she had neither approved nor disapproved the contract in which she was made an accused.
Hannan Shah, a former adviser to Khaleda Zia, demanded the release of former prime ministers Khaleda and Hasina Wajed detained on extortion and corruption charges. He also demanded the release of political leaders detained without any charges.
EU Seeks Information on Rights Cases
The European Union has asked Bangladesh’s military-backed government for information on individual human rights cases, reports said yesterday.
Bangladesh has been under emergency rule since January when elections were canceled following months of political turmoil over vote-rigging allegations.
The United States said last week it had concerns about human rights in the country.
“The chief adviser (head of the temporary government) has assured us that the situation has improved. But we have inquired (about) some cases that (drew) our attention,” Dutch Ambassador Bea ten Tusscher, who represents the EU presidency in Bangladesh, told the New Age daily.
Last week US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, John Gastright met the head of the government Fakhruddin Ahmed and army chief Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed.
“I was frank regarding our concerns regarding human rights and due process for those detained under the state of emergency, whether on corruption charges or accused of other violations of the emergency rules,” he said.
Reliable information on rights abuses in Bangladesh has become increasingly difficult to obtain, with many journalists complaining of threatening phone calls and high levels of self-censorship by newspapers.
Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders has criticized the military-backed government for violence against journalists and censorship during a curfew last month.
