Archive for February 20th, 2007
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007A former state minister of the previous BNP-led alliance, among the 50 people named by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) suspected to have amassed illegal wealth, owns 132 flats in Dhaka city under various names.The tax file of another former BNP parliamentarian, known to be very rich, could not even be found by the investigators, according to a well placed ACC source.The caretaker government's inquiry into the 50 suspects found widespread instances of massive tax evasions by almost all of them. "We have found evidence of corruption against all of them and we are now digging deeper," said the source.Meanwhile, ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007At least 67 people, mostly Pakistani nationals, were burnt to death when two powerful bombs went off aboard a Pakistan-bound train from India Sunday night in a suspected terror attack, which the officials said was aimed at derailing the bilateral peace process.Some 15 people were injured in the blasts that set fire to two of the 'friendship' train's coaches.Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with attached timers exploded ripping apart the two coaches at around at 11:55pm when the train was speeding through Deewana, 80 km north of New Delhi, at 100km per hour. The bombs might have placed on the train ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007The Prothom Alo on Monday ran a revealing interview with AHM Nurul Islam, who worked as Khaleda Zia's personal secretary during her term as prime minister in 2001-2006. The interview suggests how Khaleda turned a blind eye to numerous acts of corruption by her son and relatives. The Daily Star has translated the interview considering the importance of the subject and its public interest.Prothom Alo (PA): Bangladesh topped the international corruption list for five years. The names of several officials from the Prime Minister's Office and people close to it have been linked to corruption. You were working in the ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Housing and public works ministry yesterday cancelled allotment of 897 plots that Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) made under 'genuine and deserving' category during the allocation of 6,640 plots at Uttara in the third phase. A ministry order signed by Senior Assistant Secretary Rashida Ferdous asked the chairman of the Rajuk to take necessary measures to this end and inform the ministry about the matter immediately.Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Mainul Hosein told the journalists that the allotments were cancelled due to irregularities in the distribution process, not due to corruption.In last week, a special investigation team seized ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker from Nilphamari-3 constituency Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, who was wanted in a criminal case, was sent to jail with one month's detention after he surrendered before a Nilphamari court yesterday.Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, meantime, cancelled the membership of Mizanur Rahman yesterday for unethically using corrugated iron (CI) sheets of government relief fund that the joint forces recovered from his house.Separate cases were filed against former deputy minister for land Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu and former BNP lawmaker from Pabna Selim Reza Habib yesterday on charges of misappropriating CI sheets of government relief fund.The army-led joint forces recovered 100 pieces of ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007A mobile court yesterday raided Abul Khair Consumer Products Ltd in Chittagong and seized around 230 tonnes of milk powder to be used as ingredient in its Starship brand condensed milk.The court led by Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Magistrate Munir Chowdhury raided Abul Khair Consumer Products Ltd at Bayezid area, an enterprise of Abul Khair Group, and seized the food items imported from various countries, reports our Chittagong correspondent.Last week, the same magistrate had collected samples of the ingredients and sent those to Bangladesh Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) for laboratory tests.As the samples turned out to be ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday announced duty-free access for two million pieces of readymade garments to India from Bangladesh every year.Talking to reporters at Zia International Airport prior to his departure for New Delhi ending his daylong visit to Dhaka, Pranab said both Dhaka and New Delhi agreed to take steps to place bilateral relations on an 'irreversible higher trajectory'.Pranab, who arrived to invite Bangladesh to the 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit in New Delhi on April 3-4, also said the issue of restrictions being placed on import of cosmetics from Bangladesh has ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Grameenphone, was the most profitable part of Telenor's global mobile network in the final quarter of 2006 the Norwegian company reported, with subscribers in Bangladesh almost doubling during the year.Grameenphone is a joint venture owned 62 per cent by Telenor and 38 per cent by Grameen Telecom Corporation. Last year its number of subscribers almost doubled, ending the year at 10.759 million, up from 5.542 million a year earlier.Apart from having operations in its home country and its Nordic neighbours, Telenor runs mobile companies in several emerging markets, including the Ukraine, Malaysia, Thailand, and Pakistan.However it was its ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Civil society members at a discussion yesterday demanded immediate resignation of the Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman and members, confiscation of their properties and bringing them to book for what they said was destroying credibility of the constitutional body.The PSC should also be made free from executive influence to end political recruitment process, they said at the discussion on "Structural reforms to ensure transparency and accountability of PSC" organised by Nagorik Sanghoti at Teachers-Students Centre of Dhaka University (DU).Honest and competent bureaucracy is a must for ensuring law and order, good governance and also maintaining reasonable prices of essentials. But ...
(read more) Tuesday, February 20th, 2007The Supreme Court yesterday summarily dismissed the review petition filed by Khaled Saifullah, one of the six condemned JMB outlaws in prison, for non-prosecution.The order came since the court found no specific grounds for review of its earlier order.On November 28 last year, the Supreme Court rejected all the six applications filed by the condemned JMB militants, including Khaled Saifullah, seeking leave to appeal against their death sentences in the Jhalakathi judges killing case."With today's court order, the stay on the execution of the death sentence on the petitioner stands vacated," a court source said.Now, all judicial processes regarding the ...
(read more) 
