US agent testifies son of ex-Bangladeshi premier laundered funds

Nov 16, 2011, 13:42 GMT

Dhaka - A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday heard testimony by a US federal agent about alleged money laundering by the exiled son of former premier Khaleda Zia, court officials said.

Debra Laprevotte, an agent with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, told the court that, during a probe, she found evidence that Tarique Rahman had siphoned nearly 2.7 million dollars to a Singapore bank between 2003 and 2006, said a state attorney.

The charges are also against Giasuddin-al-Mamun, a business partner of Rahman.

The case, lodged by Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission, has been ongoing since 2009. Defence lawyers boycotted Wednesday's session, in which Laprevotte both testified and shared evidence, saying the deposition was illegal.

'Since she (Laprevotte) is not a witness named in the charge-sheet, her statement is not acceptable under any law of the land,' Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, Mamun's counsel, told reporters after the court session.

The court had previously rejected his call for a postponement of the deposition.

The FBI investigated the alleged money laundering following a 2007 request by the Bangladeshi government, when a military-backed government had launched anti-graft drive across Bangladesh.

Rahman, now exiled in Britain, was arrested during the army-backed regime in a number of corruption allegations, and was later released on bail.

In June, a different Bangladeshi court sentenced Zia's youngest son Arafat Rahman, reportedly exiled in Thailand, to six years in prison for laundering over 3.24 million dollars to Singapore. The court also fined him 2.57 million dollars.