Archive for March 19th, 2007
Monday, March 19th, 2007Revenue earnings of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel have nose dived due to a mess created by now absconding Obaidul Karim's company Accom Engineering Ltd, which recently abandoned the hotel's astronomically overpriced renovation work.The immediate past four-party alliance government's favourite Orion Group's sister concern Accom Engineering Ltd was awarded the contract of the hotel's renovation work in October 2005 although the company should not have qualified for the job.Since Obaidul Karim had gone into hiding in January to avoid arrest in connection with embezzlement of Tk 600 crore from Oriental Bank, the poorly progressing renovation work of the hotel came ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007Police yesterday pressed charges against Tarique Rahman, eldest son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, and his close aide Mian Nuruddin Apu in connection with a case filed for extorting Tk 1 crore from a construction firm owner.The charges of extortion brought against Tarique and Apu were primarily proved and they should be tried under the Speedy Trial (Law and Order Disruption) Act, the investigation officer (IO) of the case said in the charge sheet.Tarique, also senior joint secretary general of BNP, allegedly used to pull rank on the administration and always seemed beyond the reach of law enforcers during ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007The government yesterday formed a five-member committee to see if the agreements with mobile phone service operators could be amended to increase the government's take in their revenues to 15 percent from the existing 5.5 percent.The committee, headed by Director of Signal Corps Division of the Bangladesh Army Brig Gen Rafiqul Islam, will also review performances of the mobile phone operators with a view to helping them increase job opportunities for citizens.The committee, which includes a system analyst from the office of the chief adviser to the caretaker government, will also look into financial aspects and market mechanisms for the ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007Two countries woke up on Sunday in contrasting moods that replicated in their tremendous emotional outburst. After Bangladesh crushed their gigantic neighbour India by five wickets in the World Cup far away at Trinidad and Tobago, the reaction from the winners and losers of the cricket match matched each other’s in being at its best.While the dawn broke in Bangladesh with joyous celebration in very nook and corner with people distributing sweets, spraying coloured water and displaying patriotism at its best with spontaneous rallies all across the country, flakes flew across the border.The mood was also reflected in the ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007Tarique Rahman's wife Zobaida Rahman, his younger brother Arafat Rahman and a cousin met him at the jail yesterday.The three went to the jail around 4:15pm with a home ministry order for the jail authority to allow them to meet with Tarique, Deputy Inspector General (Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique told The Daily Star last night.No one can meet a detained person without such order.Tarique's relatives stayed for around 25 minutes and talked to him in a room adjacent to the jail superintendent's office. While leaving, they gave Tarique a flask, jail sources said.Earlier on March 13, Zobaida, Arafat and ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) does not wish to rush in without adequate appreciation of the situation while netting graft suspects."We shall have to proceed with a moderate pace, because there are issues of public predicament and proper investigation," ACC Chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury told journalists during a seminar at a hotel in the capital yesterday.The Academy for Educational Development (AED)/ Bangladesh Human Rights Advocacy Program (BHRAP), a USAID-funded initiative, organised the seminar on "UN Convention Against Corruption: Implications for Bangladesh".Asked if the ACC will make a single list of the corrupt and make it public as was requested by the ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007The army-led joint forces arrested ex-BNP lawmaker from Sherpur-3 constituency Mahmudul Haq Rubel from his West Kafrul residence in the capital yesterday morning. The crack forces also arrested Rubel's younger brother Mahbubul Alam Rupam, a contractor, during the raid on the house at around 5:00am.Rubel and Rupam were later handed over to Kafrul police.Officer-in-Charge of Kafrul Police Station Abdul Khaleque filed a General Diary (GD) accusing Rubel of earning crores of taka in cooperation with his brother Rupam through extortions and tender manipulations.In the GD, Rubel was also accused of holding a rally in Sherpur town on March ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died in hospital here yesterday after being found unconscious on the floor of his World Cup hotel room, an official confirmed. Woolmer, who was born in Kanpur, India was 58 years old.P.J. Mir, Pakistan's media manager, told TV channel ARYONE from the West Indies: "Bob Woolmer has passed away. I am just speaking from the hospital and all the team management is also at the hospital."Doctors have pronounced Bob Woolmer dead. He has passed away and it is very shocking news to all of the team and the team management."Bob's family and ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007Law and Information Adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein yesterday said the government might lift a ban on indoor politics within three months."We will lift ban on indoor politics as early as possible, probably within two and a half or three months, as discussions between the Election Commission and the political parties will have to be held before the election," the adviser told reporters at the Secretariat.He said the politicians want early election so that cases could not be filed against them.The law adviser was also critical about the politicians and traditional politics saying they (politicians) brought difficulties for themselves on their ...
(read more) Monday, March 19th, 2007A Chittagong University teacher yesterday alleged that a few Jamaat-e-Islami backed teachers took an undertaking assuring to make him a teacher of the university two years back.The teacher, Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, who later became a lecturer of Anthropology department on the basis of merit, approached to a visiting team of the University Grants Commission with the allegation.He tried to submit a formal allegation but failed to get an appointment from the team, sources said.According to Ashrafuzzaman, the undertaking given on a Tk 50 stamp (no Pha-2094964) on June 7, 2005 read, "I, Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, hereby vow that if recruited as ...
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