Shafik Rehman admits to meeting conspirators, police claim

Police say Shafik Rehman has admitted to holding several meetings with people convicted by a US court for bribing a former FBI official to get information on Bangladesh prime minister’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy.

“Shafik Rehman disclosed the information during interrogation,” said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) spokesperson Monirul Islam.

The DMP additional commissioner said that Rehman ‘admitted’ to holding meetings with meanwhile convicted Rizvi Ahmed Caesar, former FBI agent Robert Lustyik and their middleman, Johannes Thaler.

Police arrested Rehman, who edits a magazine, on Saturday alleging he is linked to a conspiracy to abduct Joy. They secured a five-day remand to quiz him.

In 2015, a court in New York convicted US BNP leader Mahmud Ullah Mamun’s son Caesar for bribing former FBI official Lustyik to get information on Joy.

It had also found their middleman, Johannes Thaler, guilty.

Lustyik was also convicted later for taking bribes for imparting the confidential information.

Court documents did not mention a name, but described the victim as 'son of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and an advisor to the Prime Minister on information technology.'

It said that Caesar admitted that he intended to 'scare,' 'kidnap' and 'hurt' Joy.

Documents submitted to the court of the Southern District of New York also say that Ceaser gave the information to a 'journalist in Bangladesh' and 'obtained in return approximately $30,000.'

In May the same year, police in Dhaka initiated a case over the plot to abduct the prime minister’s son.

DMP Additional Commissioner Islam told the media on Tuesday that the probe did not make much progress earlier due ‘to delays in obtaining documents’.

“We have already identified two (persons involved in the case) and one of them has been remanded. Now we are preparing to take the other one into police custody,” he said.

Police on Monday pleaded to a Dhaka court to show jailed Amar Desh Acting Editor Mahmudur Rahman arrested in connection with the same case and have sought custody to question him. The court is yet to hear the matter.

Replying to a query from reporters about the case's connection with the ‘BNP high command’, DMP official Islam said, “Whether the accused is an advisor to the BNP chairperson or holds some other position in the party, we will only know after interrogating the two.”

He added that they have found ‘evidence’ proving the involvement of an expatriate BNP leader with this case, but he did not disclose the name.

Asked whether BNP Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman, who has been living in London for the last eight years, was a suspect, Islam replied, ”We will look into all aspects for the sake of the investigation.”

Shafik Rehman, who holds both British and Bangladesh passports, is an accountant by training who has had on-and-off presence in the media almost throughout his life.

He came to prominence in the 1980s with his 'Jai Jai Din', a weekly views-magazine that often carried articles critical of General HM Ershad. His satirical piece –Diner por din– became popular with the middle class opposed to the military rule.

But his foray into mainstream journalism produced two super flops – first, 'Jai Jai Din Protidin,' which survived just 37 days in 1999 and then, during the 2001-6 BNP administration, Bashundhara Group-backed daily Jai Jai Din which lasted a little over four months. The ownership of daily Jai Jai Din later changed hands as Rehman departed and the paper failed as a business.

He has been the host of a lifestyle and chat show 'Lal Golap' on Bangla Vision tv channel.

He now edits a little-known magazine 'Mouchake Dhil'. He did some part-time work (translator/news reader) in London with the BBC's World Service.