DHAKA - SINGAPOREAN authorities have frozen assets worth US$1.6 million (S$2.3 million) belonging to the youngest son of ex-Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia, the head of Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission said on Friday.

The government had asked Singapore to investigate assets belonging to Arafat Rahman Koko, 36, arrested in Bangladesh in April 2007 on graft charges, commission director general Colonel Hanif Iqbal told AFP.

Authorities in Singapore found assets worth US$1.6 million associated with a company Mr Koko established in 2004 and they had been frozen, Col Iqbal said.

The Anti-Corruption Commission was now probing whether the money had been legally obtained, he said.

'If the money is found by a court to belong to the people of Bangladesh, the question will arise about how to repatriate that money. We will start an investigation and if necessary take the matter to the courts,' he said.

Mr Zia has two sons. Mr Koko has a lower profile than his older brother, Tareque, who is seen as his mother's political successor.

Although he did not have a cabinet role, Mr Tareque was often called the most powerful man in Bangladesh during Mr Zia's stint as premier between 2001 and 2006.

Mr Koko owns several companies and freight and transport vessels within Bangladesh and was a patron of the country's cricket board.

Both sons were arrested by the current emergency government and given bail on medical grounds in deals to ensure their mother, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, takes part in December 29 elections aimed at restoring democracy.

Mr Koko, who has acute respiratory problems, left for Thailand in July, while Tareque, who his lawyers allege has a spinal injury after being tortured in custody, left for Britain in September.

Bangladesh is ruled by an army-backed government, which two years ago cancelled elections and imposed a state of emergency after months of political violence brought the country to a standstill.

The interim authorities have promised to restore democracy by the end of 2008 and the elections late this month will be the first in the impoverished country in seven years. -- AFP