Archive for February 3rd, 2007
Saturday, February 3rd, 2007A syndicate of 13 concrete pole manufacturers through bid manipulation and political influence sold to the Rural Electrification Board (REB) 15 lakh overpriced concrete electric poles worth Tk 1,100 crore between 2001 and July 2006.Insider sources said this syndicate sold another two lakh poles to the REB on record. But these poles cannot be found in reality.By controlling pole prices, the syndicate made the REB pay double the actual price of the poles. In many cases, the REB paid three times the price of the poles, the sources said.From November last, the REB has stopped purchase of concrete poles and ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007Detained businessman and Tarique Rahman's business partner Giasuddin Al-Mamun was neither produced before any court nor handed over to police as of last evening.Mamun was arrested at a rented flat of his friend Monir Hossain Liton at Naya Paltan on Wednesday following a lead from one Russell caught by intelligence officials as he went to a Motijheel bank with a cheque of Tk 50 lakh.Liton and two others were also detained along with Mamun.Residents of the apartment at 38 Naya Paltan confirmed yesterday that members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and intelligence agencies raided flat-504 and arrested Mamun.However, the Rab ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007Intent on curbing the menace of corruption, the interim government is thinking of different actions including empowering the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to place the ones charged with graft on a month's detention and seize their property before trial.A seven-member advisory council committee on anti-corruption formed on January 24 will discuss and analyse a number of other options as well. It will identify the existing legal, administrative and institutional inadequacies in rooting out corruption.The government has asked it to place recommendations to that end before the chief adviser within two weeks.The inaugural meeting of the committee will be held tomorrow ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007The three-day Biswa Ijtema, the second largest Muslim gathering after Hajj, started yesterday on the bank of the Turag in the suburban town of Tongi amid the participation of a large number of devotees from home and abroad.Locals claim the number of devotees gathered there this year surpasses the number of devotees that gathered at Akheri Munajat (concluding prayers) last year.Several lakh devotees thronged the Ijtema ground since early yesterday morning from different places across the country to offer their Jum'a prayers turning the area around 20km off the capital into a human sea.Maulana Qwari Zobayer, Imam of ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007The BNP leaders are now busy swapping blame for excesses during the four-party rule as well as Iajuddin-led caretaker government, as they believe those have contributed to things going beyond their control, said a party insider.Meanwhile, the high-profile arrest of Giasuddin Al-Mamun, a business partner of BNP's Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman, has dealt a severe blow to the morale of the immediate past ruling party loyalists.Most of the leaders and workers have already gone into hiding to avoid being captured in the ongoing anti-crime drive across the country.The weeklong drive to catch Mamun that saw success on ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007The Awami League (AL) led grand alliance wants the caretaker government to set a time frame for holding the next parliamentary elections as early as possible and call off the state of emergency to create a congenial atmosphere for a free, fair and credible election.Most of the top AL leaders are in dark about when the election will be held and expressed their worries in this regard."We do not know when the election will actually be held or what the caretaker government is going to do", a frustrated AL organising secretary told The Daily Star.AL Joint General Secretary Obaidul Quader ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007Bangladesh Army in a further intensified drive against adulteration and hoarding recovered over 4.5 lakh sacks of fertilisers and 45 thousand sacks of soda and poultry feed worth around Tk 103 crore in Chittagong port city yesterday, reports our staff correspondent from Chittagong.Police also seized 130 sacks of adulterated powdered chilli and a huge quantity of chemical dyes and husk from three spice grinding shops at Khatunganj in the port city yesterday.The security personnel made the huge recovery busting nine warehouses including seven belonging to Jilani Enterprise at Majhirghat of Sadarghat under the city's Double Mooring thana.During the drive that ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007The joint forces arrested the personal assistant to former commerce minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury in Patuakhali, a pro-Awami League Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) central committee member in Chuadanga, and seized four firearms busting a college at Jatrabari in the capital in the last 24 hours, ending at 6:00pm yesterday. Members of the army, police and Rab yesterday also arrested 1,623 people on various charges and seized 30 firearms.Of the arrestees, 150 were held by the army, while the rest by police and Rab. Army personnel seized 10 firearms and police and Rab seized the remaining 20, said a home ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007The forest department in Tangail recently restarted the controversial construction work of a boundary wall around the site of Madhupur Eco Park ignoring the outcry of local indigenous community against the move.A sense of despair gripped the indigenous community in Madhupur since resumption of the wall construction.Meanwhile, the community faxed a petition to the chief adviser (CA) to the caretaker government (CG) demanding suspension of the wall construction in Madhupur forest since they are unable to hold a protest demonstration due to the state of emergency, sources said.The forest department took up the Forest Conservation and Eco Tourism ...
(read more) Saturday, February 3rd, 2007Former Communication Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda has strongly protested against the news published in "The Daily Star" on February 2 under the heading 'Graft allegations against Huda, Mamoon to be probed."In a statement issued to the press Barrister Huda warned The Daily Star Editor Mr. Mahfuz Anam of legal action for compensation and damages for continuously publishing libelous statement against him despite the fact that in an unambiguous term he refuted the allegation raised against him several times before.I hope Mr. Anam will not compel me to inform the nation as to what charges of corruption was brought against ...
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