Mohammad Ali Arafat, former State Minister for Information, has censured BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman for indirectly blaming the Awami League for his brotherโs death.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Arafat said that Tariqueโs claimโmade during an interview with BBC Banglaโwas both baseless and deeply shameful.
โEven falsehoods should have their limits,โ the former state minister said, adding that Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger son of General Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, had been arrested on September 3, 2007.
At that time, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina was in prison, and the army-backed interim government was in power.
On July 17, 2008, Koko was released on bail, and he travelled to Thailand for medical treatment. After receiving treatment in Thailand, Koko moved to Malaysia, where he settled with his family.
Money Laundering: How Yunus regime used ACC, Supreme Court to acquit Tarique, Mamun
On January 24, 2015, while residing in Malaysia, Koko suffered a heart attack and died on the way to the hospital.
Upon hearing the news of his death, then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to Khaleda Ziaโs Gulshan office to offer her condolences. However, Khaleda Zia kept the gate closed, forcing the prime minister to return without meeting her.
Kokoโs corruption
During the reign of Khaleda Zia from 2001-06, the corrupt and criminal acts of her notorious sons, Tarique and Koko, were largely responsible for Bangladesh suffering from the ignominy of being the most corrupt nation in the world for five years in a row, as reported by the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International (TI).
While some of their misdeeds were vaguely reported during the tenure of this deeply corrupt regime, it was during the 2007-08 caretaker government that the full extent of the institutional corruption, sponsored and sanctioned from the very top of the regime, started to become clear. A number of these corrupt acts have been prosecuted and resulted in criminal convictions and penal sanctions, while others are pending trial. This document outlines the main corruption cases involving Khaleda Zia and her sons.
Siemens admitted and pleaded guilty to bribing Koko. This led to the US Department of Justice filing an asset forfeiture case on January 8, 2009, against accounts worth nearly $3 million related primarily to bribes paid to Koko in connection with the Siemens and China Harbor corruption payments.
The DOJ asserted forfeiture jurisdiction because some of the funds in Kokoโs bank account in Singapore came from a US bank account and the bribes were paid in US dollars through US financial institutions.
Money laundering laws in the US cover financial transactions that flow through the US involving proceeds of foreign offenses, including foreign bribery and extortion. In order to enforce the US confiscation order, a joint Mutual Legal Assistance was issued by the US and Bangladesh in respect of monies held in the corporate account of ZASZ, a Singapore company ultimately owned by Koko and with the initials of Kokoโs immediate family members โ Zafira (Kokoโs first daughter), Arafat (Koko himself), Shamila (Kokoโs wife), and Zahiya (Kokoโs second daughter).
About US$2 million was returned by Singapore to Bangladesh in 2013, since they were the proceeds of bribes received by Koko.
Koko was also convicted in absentia in 2011 by a Bangladesh Court and sentenced to serve six years in prison for earning illegal wealth and money laundering. Koko was fined US$5.2 million, and certain other assets, including assets of another company in Singapore called Fairhill, also set up by Koko, were confiscated.
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