A World Bank-UNODC publication mentioned the alleged embezzlement of several million dollars by former prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia's younger son as an example of stealing national assets.
Titled "Asset Recovery Handbook," the publication was released two days ago in Vienna and obtained by BSS. It was prepared under the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative of the WB in association with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The 270-page book cited Arafat Rahman Koko's case on page 53 and page 196 while discussing the issues relating to prosecution of accounting and establishing jurisdiction for legal proceedings.
On both pages, it referred to the bribery case of Siemens from where Koko allegedly embezzled several million US dollars, costing the national interest.
On page 53, the handbook said Siemens and its subsidiaries in Argentina, Bangladesh and Venezuela bribed public officials to secure government contracts.
"Bribes were accounted for as payments to consultants, who subsequently channelled them to the public officials," it said.
It is also mentioned in the book that Siemens pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiracy and violations of books and records and internal controls provisions in a plea agreement that resulted in a $450 million.
The book on page 196 goes further with the reference of the action of the US Department of Justice stating: "In 2009, the US Department of Justice filed a confiscation action against bribery proceeds paid (in Singapore, with US currency) by a foreign company to the son of the former prime minister of Bangladesh".
Earlier, media reports said the US authorities on January 8, 2009, moved a legal process in a court in the District of Columbia to recover funds worth $3 million, allegedly obtained by Koko from Siemens and kept with a Singapore-based bank.
[The Daily Star too published a report on the scam on December 23, 2008, carrying the headline "Foreigner spilled the beans".]
The World Bank publication was released two weeks after a special Judge Court of Dhaka framed charge against Koko and Ismail Hossain Saimon, son of former shipping minister late Akbar Hossain in the same case.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case on March 17 last year with the Kafrul Police Station of the city accusing Koko and Saimon of laundering $9 lakh 32 thousand 672 and Singapore $ 28 lakh 84 thousand 604.
The issue of repatriation of siphoned off money surfaced in Bangladesh during the past military-backed interim administration in 2007- 2008 when officials said they estimated millions of dollars were smuggled out by influential but corrupt people.
The corruption suspects at that time, however, were forced to return $129 million.
Former World Bank vice president Praful C Patel at that time said Bangladeshi assets had either been stolen or smuggled outside the country for the last several years while "corruption had eaten up nearly three percent of the country's growth rate".
The Breton Woods institution released the handbook to guide developing countries recover money stolen by individuals and institutions while it was prepared by an international team of experts, drawing on the experience of a wide range of countries and legal traditions.
Designed as a quick reference, it describes approaches to recovering proceeds of corruption located in foreign jurisdictions, identifies the difficulties that practitioners are likely to encounter, suggests strategic and tactical options to address the challenges, and introduces good practices.
The WB publication suggested strengthening of international cooperation for recovering such stolen assets.
It said the embezzlement of national assets costs developing countries $20 to $40 billion every year while developing countries over the past 15 years could recover only $5 billion.
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=166515
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