Police in Bangladesh arrested former prime minister Khaleda Zia and one of her sons on Monday on charges of corruption and misuse of power, officials said. Zia told a Dhaka court that she and her son are innocent. But she was jailed pending trial and her son, Arafat Rahman, was ordered held by police for seven days for questioning. “This is a conspiracy to tarnish the image of my family and my party,” Zia said. “We have done nothing wrong. This case against us must be lifted.”From the court, Zia, escorted by hundreds of police, was taken to a makeshift prison near the parliament building. Her prison is just a few blocks from where her archrival and another ex-premier, Sheikh Hasina, has been held since July on extortion charges.
The officials arrested Zia at her home in the Bangladeshi capital hours after a case was filed by an anti-corruption official against her and her youngest son, Arafat Rahman Coco, Dhaka Metropolitan Police official Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman told The Associated Press by phone. Zia, who ended her five-year term in October, is accused of misusing her power by awarding contracts to a local company, Global Agro Trade Company, when she was in office in 2003. Coco allegedly influenced his mother to approve the deal. The complaint said ZiaÂ’s administration did not follow standard procedure in awarding the company work involving two cargo terminals, one in DhakaÂ’s Kamlapur Railway Station and another in the countryÂ’s main Chittagong seaport.
Officials could not immediately be reached for comment. A case was filed separately late on Sunday against Hasina on charges of taking a bribe in return to allow a company to build a power plant when she was in power in 1997, a police official said. She and her Awami League party denied the allegation.
Some analysts see the arrest of Zia and Hasina as politically motivated. “The arrests of the two leaders indicate that the campaign is more politically motivated than targeting corruption,” said Bazlur Rahman, editor of Dhaka’s Sangbad daily. “It now seems that they (the government) want to weaken the two large political parties to prevent them from winning the next election. I think the government wants to hold the election, but a hand-picked parliament is what it wants,” he said.
According to Rahman the emergency rule in the country may be prolonged until the polls, planned for next year, are held.