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Download PDF A mobile court yesterday realised Tk 750,000 in fines and issued arrest warrants against former BNP lawmaker and chairman of Partex Group MA Hashem, his wife and three sons as their company Partex Sugar Ltd sold and distributed sugar in the market forging the BSTI (Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution) seal.
BSTI sources said Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members recently found sacks of sugar refined by Partex Ltd with forged BSTI seals imprinted on those in Narayanganj market. Being informed about Partex Sugar’s not having licence from BSTI, a Rab team cordoned off Partex Sugar Ltd factory at Hatabo of Rupganj in Narayanganj since Tuesday night.
A mobile court led by magistrate Manzarul Mannan of Narayanganj along with BSTI officials raided the factory yesterday and found many sacks full of sugar with BSTI seals.
“They did not get the BSTI licence. It’s clear forgery,” said a BSTI official who accompanied the mobile court.
Partex Sugar Ltd so far distributed 10,000 metric tons of sugar in the market without testing the standard of sugar at BSTI.
BSTI sources said, recently formed Partex Sugar Ltd was established to refine imported raw sugar and sell it in the market. According to the law, the particular company has to take a BSTI licence to maintain the standard of edible products.
Earlier, Partex Sugar Ltd informed BSTI on January 14 this year that their boiler was out of order and they were not in production, the BSTI sources said.
“So now it is clear that they had bad intentions to produce sugar without maintaining the standard,” said the BSTI official.
The mobile court initially detained five workers and fined Tk 7,50,000 for not obtaining the BSTI licence. The court released the workers in the evening after the company paid the fine. The court seized all products from the factory.
The court issued arrest warrants against MA Hashem, the chairman of the Partex Group, managing director Showkat Aziz Russell, directors Sultana Hashem, Aziz Al-Kaiser and Aziz Al-Mahmood as they were not present at the scene.
Meanwhile, joint forces yesterday unearthed a fake consumer product factory at Sataish in Tongi and arrested three employees of the factory while a mobile court in Savar jailed two persons for violating licence policies, reports our staff correspondent.
At Sataish of Tongi, the joint forces raided a factory named ATN Food and Consumer Products — a concern of Spry Marketing Enterprises — and found various food products being prepared in the same area in an unhygienic condition.
The forces led by magistrate Humayun Kabir found that the factory not only used harmful artificial colour, chemicals and saccharine and starch without manufacture or expiration date to produce around twenty food items, but also used BSTI seal without obtaining certification from BSTI for marketing the products.
Moreover, the factory was deceiving consumers by packing less content than the quantity stated on product labels.
The court sealed off the factory and arrested managing director of the factory Iqbal Hossain, accountant Sahajahan Ali and supervisor Rafiqul Islam. The forces however could not arrest the owner of the factory advocate Adil Mia.
In Savar, a mobile court sentenced owner of Meen Lubricant Oil, Prof Masudul Haque and engineer Hamidur Rahman to one-year imprisonment each for violating licence policies.
Although the distributor is licensed sell or supply lubricants only to industrial users, they were selling lubricants to retailers.
July 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
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