VIENNA (AP) – Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under President George W. Bush, is being investigated by American authorities for suspected money laundering, Austrian officials said Monday.
State prosecutor Thomas Vecsey confirmed a report in the Austrian weekly Profil about the investigation of Khalilzad, who played a key role in the political transition in Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and the fall of the Taliban.
According to the magazine, the investigation centers on the alleged transfer of 1.15 million euros ($1.5 million) in May 2013 to an account in Vienna owned by Khalilzad’s wife, Cheryl Benard. The money came from business activities in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, it reported. Vecsey would not elaborate on the allegations, nor did the magazine’s report.
Profil said the case became public after a blogger found documents while rummaging through a garbage container used by the state prosecutor’s office in Vienna.
The magazine said several bank accounts owned by Benard were ordered frozen in February – a ruling that is under appeal. Benard’s lawyer, Holger Bielesz, told Profil that U.S. authorities have yet to express “reasonable grounds for suspicions.”