(Adds Tareque moved to prison hospital) DHAKA, March 13 (Reuters) - The son of Bangladesh's last prime minister has been remanded in custody for a month as authorities investigate corruption charges against him in a nationwide crackdown on graft, officials said. Tareque Rahman, the eldest son of immediate past prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia and a joint secretary-general of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was arrested on March 7 but had a bail application rejected late on Monday. On Tuesday he was moved to a prison hospital after complaining of pains in his chest and head, prison officials said. Doctors are attending him and he is stable, they added. Khaleda ended her five-year term as prime minister in October and handed power to an interim authority now headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, who has vowed to eliminate corruption from politics before announcing a date for parliamentary elections. An election planned for Jan. 22 was postponed in the wake of widespread political violence. The government has not yet announce a fresh election date. Tareque appeared in court wearing a bullet-proof jacket late on Monday after four days of questioning. Popularly known among ordinary Bangladeshis as Yuvraj (prince), the 40-year-old Tareque is a handsome, urbane businessman appeared to wield great power and influence while his mother was in office. He is being investigated on suspicion he illegally amassed huge wealth through corrupt means -- including a 10 million taka ($145,000) bribe from a businessman, police said. A second bail petition is due to be heard on March 19. Bangladesh's Election Commission is working on a new law that would permanently ban anyone convicted of a crime from standing for elected office. Security forces have detained more than 160 senior political figures, including 15 former ministers, since Bangladesh imposed a state of emergency on Jan. 11. Tareque is the most prominent of them. He was preparing to contest a constituency in his home district Bogra, in the north of the country, in the coming polls. As per Bangladesh's constitution, the current state of emergency can last up to four months, or May 11. But an adviser to the interim government. retired Major-General M. A. Matin said on Tuesday it could be extended. "The country is having a better time now in all respects because of the emergency. What's the harm if it is continued," he told reporters. (Additional reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir and Nizam Ahmed)
