Dhaka: A Dhaka court on on Tuesday allowed a US FBI official to testify in a graft case against opposition leader and ex-Bangladesh premier Khaleda Zia’s fugitive elder son Tarique Rahman, who is being tried in absentia.
“The judge ordered the appearance of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Debra Laprevotte tomorrow to testify in the money laundering case” against main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman, a court official said.
He said special Judge Mohammad Mozammel Hossain issued the order as Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chief counsel Anisul Huq submitted an application seeking to record the statement of FBI agent, who had helped the graft watchdog investigate charges against Rahman. The trial of the money laundering case began on September 11.
The court in August this year indicted Zia’s “fugitive” elder son Rahman for money laundering and issued a warrant ordering his arrest to be exposed to trial.
. The Special Judge’s Court also indicted Rahman’s controversial business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun as they were to face a charge that alleged the two siphoned out at least Taka 20.41 crore between 2003 and 2007. (PTI)
Another Dhaka court had earlier issued warrants against Rahman as a prime suspect of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on a rally of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, killing 24 people. Witnesses and officials the chief metropolitan magistrate court of Dhaka ordered them to be sent to jail as the former inspectors general of police Ashraful Huda, Khoda Baksh Chowdhury and Shahudul Haque surrendered before the court. Rahman’s younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko in June this year was handed down six years of imprisonment for siphoning off over Taka 20 crore abroad after trial in absentia. The World Bank recently released a publication mentioning the alleged embezzlement of several million dollars by Koko as “an example of stealing national assets”.