Queenslander charged with $90,000 bribes to foreign officials after woman’s death

A Queensland man has been charged with bribing public officials in Bangladesh over an investigation into a woman’s death.

In September 2024, the Australian Federal Police began investigating a missing person’s report for a dual Australian-Bangladeshi woman missing in Bangladesh.

The following day, Bangladesh police found her body, as confirmed by forensic testing.

Bangladeshi authorities deemed her death was suspicious.

As part of the AFP’s investigation - separate to that carried out by the Bangladeshi police - officers carried out several search warrants at financial institutions in Sydney and Brisbane, seizing international funds transaction records and bank records.

The AFP alleges that between September 2024, and September 2026, the man conspired with people in Bangladesh to try to influence the Bangladeshi investigation by arranging the transfer of about $90,000 to pay bribes to public officials.

This allegedly included a bid to have his name removed from police records.  

Read more

Police yet to locate gun in shooting of boy, 11, as several people refuse to cooperate

Yesterday, AFP officers arrested the man and executed a search warrant at homes in Goodna and Redbank Plains in Queensland.

Investigators seized an electronic device for forensic examination.  

The Redbank Plains man, 51, was charged with one count of bribing a foreign public official.

If he is found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

It’s the first time the AFP has put somebody before the courts charged with foreign bribery of a public official for personal advantage.

The AFP investigation into the woman’s death remains ongoing, as does the Bangladesh Police investigation.