Bangladesh opposition chief’s son jailed for graft

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s High Court on Thursday sentenced the eldest son of opposition leader and former premier Khaleda Zia to seven years in jail for money laundering,

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s High Court on Thursday sentenced the eldest son of opposition leader and former premier Khaleda Zia to seven years in jail for money laundering, scrapping his acquittal by a lower court three years ago.

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A two-judge bench made the decision against Tarique Rahman, who is the heir apparent to Zia, throwing a major challenge for the former prime minister to rise against her arch-rival, current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Rahman, senior vice chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has been living in exile in Britain since 2008, when he left the country after securing bail on medical grounds.

The verdict in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission came at a time when Bangladesh is struggling to fight arising Islamist militancy. There has been growing concern that Hasina will further consolidate her powers in the days to come.

The government regularly blames Z ia and her party of being in a partnership with the Jamaat-e-Islami in an anti-government alliance.

Zainul Abedin, a defence lawyer, said the court had also fined Rahman 200 million Takas and upheld an earlier verdict of seven years of jail for his businessman friend Giasuddin Al Mamun.