Former US ambassador under investigation for suspected money laundering
A former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations is being investigated for suspected money laundering, the Associated Press reports.
The investigation of Zalmay Khalilzad by U.S. authorities was confirmed by an Austrian state prosecutor after an Austrian magazine reported on it. The weekly publication, Profil, reported that the investigation is centered on the transfer of about $1.5 million in May 2013 to an account in Vienna in the name of Khalilzad’s wife, Cheryl Benard.
The magazine said the money came from Middle East business activities. A lawyer for Benard, Holger Bielesz, said the U.S. investigators have not presented “reasonable grounds for suspicions.”
Under President George W. Bush, Khalilzad was the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan from November 2003 to June 2005; Iraq from June 2005 to March 2007; and the United Nations until 2009.
He then became an international business consultant, now as president of the Washington D.C.-based Gryphon Partners, which helps businesses and business investors enter emerging markets. The company’s website says it has expanded from its original focus on the Middle East and Central Asia.
Updated at 6:34 p.m. to note that he served in the Bush administration.
