Man charged with bribing foreign police to scrub his name from wife’s death probe

A Queensland man whose wife died overseas under suspicious circumstances has been charged with bribing officials to influence their investigation.

Rehana Parvin’s body was discovered by Bangladeshi police in September 2024, around the same time a missing person’s report was lodged with Queensland police regarding an Australian overseas.

Parvin, the wife of 51-year-old Redbank Plains man Awlad Hossain, was an Australian-Bangladeshi dual national. Police in Bangladesh advised the AFP her death was suspicious.

Following their own investigation, the AFP will allege Hossain sent $90,000 to Bangladesh to bribe officials and get his name removed from police records.

Officers raided homes in Goodna and Redbank Plains on Monday, seizing several electronic devices, before arresting and charging Hossain.

An AFP spokesperson said both its own and the Bangladeshi investigation into Parvin’s death were ongoing.

It is the first time the agency has put an allegation of foreign bribery to an Australian court.

Hossain, who was in custody, was scheduled to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning, but the matter was adjourned as his lawyer was not in court.

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