Customs Intelligence recommends suing former UNDP chief

Bangladesh’s customs intelligence recommended suing former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) country director in Bangladesh Stefan Priesner accusing him under the customs act and the money laundering prevention act.

Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID) on Thursday submitted its probe report to the National Board of Revenue in this regard.

CIID investigation team found that Stefan Priesner was involved in abusing diplomatic privileges as he sold his duty-free car to a non- privileged person, said Director General of the directorate Dr. Moinul Khan.

He told Jago News that the agency also suggested sending a notice of the allegations against Priesner to the UNDP headquarters in New York.

Mentioning that Priesner was also involved in illegal money transaction, Moinul Khan said, “The vehicle’s sales process and money transaction was completed through a foreign bank outside of Bangladesh for personal gain, which is tantamount to money laundering.”

Customs intelligence seized Priesner’s duty-free vehicle from a house at Uttara in Dhaka on November 28 in last year. An investigation team led by CIID joint director Mohammad Shafiur Rahman was formed after the seizure.

Priesner, who served as UNDP country director in Bangladesh between 2008 and 2012, is now working UNDP’s president coordinator in Uzbekistan.

(The article originally published in Bangla edition of Jagonews24.com is written in English by Zahidul Islam)