Bank official testifies against Tarique

An official of the state-owned Sonali Bank (SB) Thursday testified before a Dhaka court against BNP's senior vice president Tarique Rahman in a money laundering case, reports BSS. Ihsanul Hafiz, who was an officer of SB's Cantonment Branch, appeared before the Special Judge's Court as the eighth prosecution witness (PW) in the case in which Rahman was accused along with his business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun for siphoning off an amount of Tk 20,41,25,843 to Singapore in between 2003 and 2007. Seven witnesses including a US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent earlier testified against fugitive Rahman as the trial of the money laundering case began on September 11 last year. FBI special agent Debra LaPrevotte last year told the court that their investigations found that Rahman and Mamun had stashed away the amount from Bangladesh and deposited it in a bank in Singapore. LaPrevotte also submitted two FBI documents to the court as evidence saying the documents contained details of bank accounts and credit and visa card numbers of Rahman and Mamun and other relevant papers related to the case.