Khalilzad faces money laundering probe

Former US ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under President George W. Bush is suspected of tax evasion and money laundering.

Zalmay Khalilzad is currently under investigation by the US Department of Justice, an Austrian magazine called Profil reported on Monday.

Austrian authorities have reportedly blocked bank accounts belonging to social scientist and author Cheryl Benard, Khalilzad’s wife.

The 63-year-old Khalilzad and his wife are “vigorously contesting the seizure of the accounts,” Robert Buehler, a Washington-based lawyer, said in a statement Monday.

The case involving a $1.5 million transfer to the bank account of Khalilzad’s wife came to light when a blogger found several court documents in a garbage dump in Vienna and published them on his website.

The papers belonged to the Austrian state prosecutors’ office and a Vienna court.

American officials are investigating the money transfer from business activities in the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

The Department of Justice had requested Khalilzad’s bank records back in May 2013, Buehler said.

“For reasons that remain unclear, an Austrian prosecutor ignored the plain language of the [Justice Department] request and froze Ms. Benard’s accounts solely on the basis of the … requests for information,” Buehler said.

Benard has dual American and Austrian citizenship.

The case has become a scandal for Austrian authorities who have been asked by American officials to preserve the details in maximum secrecy.

No charges have yet been brought against the couple in the US or Austria, Holger Bielesz, a lawyer for Benard, said.

AN/AGB