A Bangladeshi businessman filed an extortion case on Monday against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, police said in the capital, Dhaka. Lawyers said Hasina, now on a private visit to the United States, could be arrested on her return and if charges against her are proved she could be sentenced to a prison term ranging from two to five years.
One official said a businessman named Tajul Islam Faruk alleged that Hasina, chief of the Awami League party and daughter of an independence war hero, had extorted about 30 million taka ($436,000) from him.
"The case alleged that Hasina compelled the management of a private power plant to pay the amount in phases from 1998 to 2001, otherwise threatened to stop the operation of the company," police officer Mohammad Jashim said reading out the complaint.
Tajul Islam had a stake in the power plant, though further details of his involvement were not immediately available. Hasina was prime minister of the impoverished South Asian country from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated by her rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The army-backed interim government currently in power imposed a state of emergency in January and has since arrested about 160 people for corruption and extortion. They included Khaleda's eldest son and dozens of former ministers and political leaders. On Saturday, Hasina called the interim authority headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed "undemocratic and unconstitutional".
Her comments came after Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda said it might take up to 18 months to complete a flawless voters' roll for the next election. Hasina said that was too long for the country to wait.
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