Bangladesh court sentences former Prime Minister's son to jail for graft

A Bangladesh court sentenced on Thursday Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger son of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, to six years in prison for laundering $2.7 million received as kickbacks from foreign companies, court officials said. The verdict could fuel street protests by Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies who say the charges against Koko were politically motivated and pushed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.
Khaleda and Hasina are both the relatives of men who used to rule the country and the bitter rivalry between the women has overshadowed the country's politics for years. Khaleda's BNP, the main opposition party, and its allies have already launched a campaign against Hasina's government, particularly against a plan to scrap a system of holding national elections under a non-party caretaker administration. Koko was charged for laundering the funds, which the prosecution said he had received as bribes for helping companies win government contracts, through bank accounts in Singapore while Khaleda was prime minister during a 2001-2006 tenure.