(AP/Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-03 10:55

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Police arrested former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her son Monday on charges of corruption and misuse of power during her last term in office, news reports said.

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, seen here 30 May, who ruled the country twice since 1991 and faces graft charges, was on Monday arrested at her home, police said. [AFP]

The officials arrested Zia at her home in the Bangladeshi capital hours after a case was filed against her and her younger son, Arafat Rahman Coco, by an anti-corruption official, local television station Channel 1 and Channel I said.

Zia was led away from her home amid tight security to a court in another part of Dhaka, Channel I said.

Zia, who ended her five-year term in October, allegedly misused her power by awarding the contracts to a local company, Global Agro Trade Company, when she was in office in 2003. Coco allegedly influenced his mother to approve the deal.

The 59-year-old leader is among 150 high-profile figures who have been arrested as part of the anti-graft campaign.

On Sunday, Sheikh Hasina was named in a new graft case by the anti-graft body. She was accused of taking bribe from a private power producer in 1997 when she was the country's prime minister.

Bangladesh has been under emergency rule since January 11 when elections were cancelled after months of violence over vote-rigging allegations made by Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The BNP-led government of Zia, the country's last elected premier, held power until last October.

Officials could not immediately be reached for comment.