Chief_Adviser
Number of posts : 615
Age : 41
City/Town : in ur heart .
Registration date : 2008-06-10
 |  Subject: US action against Coco not 'political': Moriarty.........  Thu Jan 15, 2009 11:23 pm | |
|  US ambassador James F Moriarty has said attempts by his government to retrieve alleged 'bribe money' belonging to Arafat Rahman Coco from a Singapore bank account had no link to Bangladesh politics.
"We have taken an action against a specific bank account in Singapore with roughly $3 million, through the Department of Justice that thinks there is corrupt money in that account," Moriarty told reporters after a meeting with foreign minister Dipu Moni on Thursday.
"The owner of that account can now appeal that process and come to us and say why they think the money is not corrupt".
FBI officials arrived in Dhaka earlier in the week to seek Bangaldesh's assistance to recover the "illicit funds".
The US government, as part of a bribery case against German industrial giant Siemens AG, has alleged that "bribes paid to Arafat "Coco" Rahman, the (younger) son of the former prime minister Khaleda Zia, in connection with public works projects awarded by the Bangladesh government to Siemens AG and China Harbor Engineering Company was deposited in Coco's account".
BNP secretary-general Khandakar Delwar Hossain recently termed the bribery allegations "untrue" and "politically motivated".
Moriarty said Thursday: "This has nothing to do with Bangladesh politics. It has everything to do with us implementing our law."
The US envoy also told reporters his country would work to bring peace in Gaza.
"[Dipu Moni] raised Gaza and urged my government to do what it could to end the humanitarian tragedy there," he said.
"I assured her that we are working on that, we will be working closely with the Egyptian initiative for example."
The Palestinian death toll from Israel's 19-day air-and-ground offensive has risen to at least 1,055, according to the Gaza officials. A Palestinian rights group said 670 of the dead were civilians.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Israel on Thursday that the death toll from fighting in the Gaza Strip had reached an "unbearable point".
Egypt is hosting efforts to bring about a truce.
The US ambassador said his country shared the concern for the suffering of the people of Gaza.
Moriarty once again urged Bangladesh to recognise Kosovo, which emerged as an independent state in February last year.
"I urged the government to recognise Kosovo as quickly as possible so that we don't see any humanitarian tragedies there in future," said Moriarty who was awarded by his government for his contribution to the US's Balkan policy.
The Muslim-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17 last year defying stiff opposition from Russia which threatened to block Pristina's UN membership.
The newly emerged nation has been recognised by the US and most of the Western European countries. | |
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