US embassy cable - 05DHAKA4567

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 004567 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, PREL, BG, Crime/Murders 
SUBJECT: HIS BOSS SAYS QUAYYUM WAS FRAMED FOR KIBRIA'S 
MURDER 
 
 
Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.4 b,d. 
 
1. (C) Summary:  The Chairman of one of Bangladesh's largest 
conglomerates believes that his employee, the key defendant 
in the Kibria assassination, was framed, though he says he 
does not know by whom or why.  He contradicted statements by 
Quayyum and Political Secretary Haris Chowdhury denying they 
had a significant relationship, saying the two were "very 
close"  Discussion about Quayyum's job as the bag man for 
Rangs reflect the reality of doing business in Bangladesh. 
End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU)  On September 8, RLA met the Chairman of Rangs 
Corporation, Rouf Choudhury, for one hour to discuss his 
employee, Abdul Quayyum, the chief defendant in the Kibria 
murder case. Choudhury is a Bangladesh-born American citizen 
who graduated from MIT and later the Sloan School of 
Business.  He founded Rangs Corporation, which is one of the 
largest conglomerates in Bangladesh whose interests range 
from the sale of household goods to communications, news 
media, and transportation. 
 
3. (C)  When asked if Quayyum were capable of murdering 
Kibria, Choudhury replied firmly and without blinking an eye: 
"Absolutely not."  He stated that Quayyum was framed but 
could not say by whom or why Quayyum would be chosen to take 
the fall.  He contradicted statements by Quayyum and the 
Political Secretary to the Prime Minister, Haris Chowdhury, 
by saying the two were "very close." Quayyum and Chowdhury, 
in separate interviews, have both denied that they had much 
to do with each other except for occasional greetings. 
 
4. (SBU) Chairman Choudhury offered Quayyum a job at Rangs 
some 20 years ago when Quayyum's father, a customs inspector 
at the airport, asked the chairman if he could find work for 
his son. Choudhury agreed to talk to him. Quayyum had been 
active in BNP student politics in the 1970s and, according to 
Choudhury, knew a lot of politicians from that time, 
including Haris Chowdhury. The Rangs boss described Quayyum 
as a "funny" guy recalling that when he asked if Quayyum 
would go to Chittagong to work, he was taken aback when 
Quayyum refused because he had a girlfriend elsewhere. All 
the same, Quayyum was given a job and eventually handled 
government relations based on his connections and his pushy, 
brazen ways. 
 
5. (C)  Choudhury, an erudite and thoughtful man in his 
sixties, was clearly embarrassed about Quayyum's role of 
dispensing bribes for his company. He stated that at one 
point he needed new ships for his fishing fleet and Quayyum 
was dispatched to determine the amount of money necessary to 
get BDG permission to buy the boats. The chairman stated he 
doesn't like to do business this way but there were 800 
employees whose livelihood depended on safe, efficient boats 
and 800 families depended on that livelihood. 
 
6. (C) Choudhury eventually learned from other sources that 
Quayyum would ask for more money from the chairman than the 
amount demanded and then pocket the extra amount. Quayyum 
became affluent from the skimming and from playing the stock 
market in ways that are now under separate investigation. 
When the police began their investigation of alleged stock 
manipulation, the entire Rangs office was put in lockdown and 
everyone had to remain in their seats while the investigators 
cleaned out Quayyum's office. Chairman Choudhury was 
questioned. 
 
7. (C) The reason Choudhury believes that Quayyum was framed, 
he said, is that the employee wasn't smart enough to plan 
something like an assassination conspiracy that and at the 
same time he was not stupid enough to start plastering his 
campaign posters all over the district only days after the 
assassination. Choudhury said any guilty person would known 
enough to lie low and not draw attention to himself. 
 
8. (C) Quayyum told A/Legatt and RLA previously that he got 
his vice-chairmanship of the BNP district committee in 
Habiganj through the intervention of Choudhury with Tareque 
Rahman, the prime minister's son.  Choudhury said he was 
friends with Tareque and their families would socialize 
together. The Rangs chairman also believed that the prime 
minister and her son were better people than those who 
surround them. He stated that every appointment to a BNP 
district board would have to be approved by Tareque but that 
Harris Chowdhury was probably responsible for Quayyum's 
actual appointment. 
 
9.(C) RLA told Choudhury that Quayyum's family was running 
out of money due to the fact that its bank accounts were 
frozen. He said he had arranged for Quayyum's provident fund 
to be given over to the family. RLA stated that things were 
so desperate that the two boys who were in top schools had to 
withdraw because there was not enough money to pay for 
tuition. He then asked quietly: "Will I look bad if I help 
them out?" 
10. (C) Comment: Quayyum is the key to the BDG's case and its 
claim to have solved the Kibria killing.  We continue to 
analyze bank documents and telephone logs provided to us in 
this case, and intend to speak with several other persons who 
should be able to offer valuable insight into Quayyum's 
character.  At this point, it is still hard to decide whether 
Quayyum's links to Haris Chowdhury, Tareque Rahman, and the 
BNP reflect simply the sordid nature of Bangldeshi politics 
or something more sinister.  The Rangs' chairman's assertion 
that Quayyum and Haris Chowdhury had a significant 
relationship is compelling and suggests that Quayyum refused 
to implicate Haris because he still hopes Haris will 
eventually rescue him from the Kibria charge.  If Quayyum is 
guilty, his motive is a mystery since his alleged motivation 
to succeed Kibria in parliament is looking increasingly 
untenable.  If Quayyum is in fact being framed, a process of 
elimination would suggest the involvement of very influential 
BDG personages. 
CHAMMAS