Bangladesh military confronts corruption

By Tim Sullivan, AP Writer
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The jails of this crowded, sweltering city are getting crowded, and not with your typical prisoners. There's the previous prime minister's son.

There's the chief forest conservator, who police say became a minor timber baron. When they raided his house, they found nearly $150,000 in cash, most sewn inside sofa pillows. There's the disgraced deputy planning minister, a one-time economics professor from a prominent intellectual family.

After years of rampant graft, Bangladesh's military-backed government is trying to crush corruption in one of the world's most corrupt nations - and weaken the two powerful politicians whose bitter rivalry has brought this poverty-battered country to the edge of political anarchy.

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