AP News, March 18th, 2007
Bangladeshi police filed extortion charges on Sunday against a former prime minister's son who had been a powerful political leader in a country that ranks among the world's most corrupt.
Police filed charges with a magistrate's court against Tarique Rahman for allegedly extorting $147,000 from a construction company, police investigator Mahbub Morshed said.
Rahman has denied the allegation.
The arrest of Rahman, the son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and a leader of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was part of a wide corruption investigation launched by the new government that has seen the detention of dozens of politicians, including former ministers.
The military-backed interim government has launched an anti-graft drive since President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a state of emergency on Jan. 11 following weeks of political unrest.
A judge of a special tribunal in Dhaka will hear the case Monday to determine whether to accept the charge and begin Rahman's trail, local television station Bangla Vision reported.
Rahman, the eldest of Zia's two sons, faces two to five years in jail if convicted.
Security forces detained Rahman on March 8 at his mother's residence. After four days in police custody for questioning, a magistrate's court denied him bail last Monday and ordered him to Dhaka Central Jail for a month pending further investigations, police said.
Transparency International, a Berlin-based global corruption watchdog, has named Bangladesh one of the world's most corrupt nations.
The president has postponed national elections that were scheduled for Jan. 22. No new election date has been set.
Zia ended her five-year term in October and handed over power to an interim government to prepare for the elections. She joined politics after her husband, President Ziaur Rahman, was slain in a 1981 military coup.
