DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s sister on extortion charges, a defence lawyer said.

A.B.M. Abdul Fattah, a Metropolitan Magistrate in the Bangladeshi capital, ruled that Sheikh Rehana, Hasina’s younger sister, should be arrested on charges of extorting US$441,000 from a businessman during Hasina’s 1996-2001 tenure, defence lawyer Kamrul Islam said.

The magistrate also asked the authorities to confiscate Rehana’s moveable property, Islam said.

Bangladesh’s military-backed interim government has launched a massive crackdown on corruption ahead of elections expected to be held next year.

Rehana lives in London while Hasina has been held since July 16 in a special jail pending trial on charges in the same case.

Rehana was never actively involved in politics but reportedly made her fortune by negotiating government contracts during her sister’s term in office.

Businessman Azam J. Chowdhury, Managing Director of Eastcoast Trading Ltd., filed the case against Hasina, Rehana and one of their cousins on June 13, accusing them of taking money in return for giving him permission to set up a power plant. The cousin, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, was a Cabinet minister during Hasina’s five-year term. He is also in jail on the same charge, pending trial.

According to the charges, the accused threatened Chowdhury with canceling the project unless he paid them.

Rehana and Hasina have denied the charges, saying they were aimed at tarnishing their image. Selim has also said he was not part of any such deal.

The two sisters are the daughters of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was killed along with most of his family in a 1975 military coup.

The sisters survived because they were abroad that time. They are the last surviving direct members of Rahman’s family.

Rehana was declared a “fugitive” in Wednesday’s court order, but it was not clear whether the government would seek her extradition from Britain.

Bangladesh, a parliamentary democracy since 1991, is currently ruled by an interim government backed by its influential army.

Since its inception in mid-January, the makeshift government has been carrying out a massive crackdown on corruption and has arrested two former prime ministers along with many other politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen. It came to power through a declaration of a state of emergency after weeks of violent street protests over electoral reforms that left at least 30 people dead and scores injured.

Hasina’s archrival, two-time Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, was arrested in September on corruption charges. She has been in jail since Sept 3 pending trial.

The government has pledged new elections some time between October and December next year.

Bangladesh, an impoverished nation of 144 million people, has been ranked by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International as one of the world’s most corrupt nations.—AP