Archive for May 20th, 2008
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008The system for pre-shipment inspection (PSI) of imports has become riddled with corruption, and plagued by tax dodging and money laundering, depriving the country of huge amounts of revenue, reveals an investigation by The Daily Star.Behind the large scale corruption is a nexus of some businessmen, politicians, taxmen and PSI staff who have plundered government revenues since the system was made mandatory in 2000.The exact amount the scams have cost the country is difficult to know, but businessmen and revenue experts believe the sum is well in excess of 1,000 crore taka a year.Now the National Board of ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Awami League's (AL) decision whether to participate in the dialogue with the government and the election without its President Sheikh Hasina will be based on opinions of the grassroots- and national-level committees.How the party should go about securing Hasina's release too will be decided on the basis of the feedback from its rank and file.AL acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam has already sent out letters to the district leaders, asking them to join the extended meeting slated for May 26 and come up with formal proposals on the issues.Besides, the party has instructed its district units to ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Pro-Khaleda faction of BNP yesterday rejected the government letter inviting them to participate in the formal dialogue, saying it did not address party secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain properly.Meanwhile Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, acting secretary general of the pro-reform faction, accepted the government invitation for the talks Sunday night, though the letter made no mention of his designation.Rizvi Ahmed, acting office secretary of pro-Khaleda faction, said a Special Branch official carried the letter to Delwar's Nam apartment at about 9:30am.But Delwar regretted to accept the letter sent from the Chief Adviser's Office, as the authorities did not ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami was sent to jail yesterday after being produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) Court of Dhaka in connection with the Gatco graft case.Nizami was arrested from his Moghbazar residence at about 11:15pm on Sunday following receipt of his the arrest warrant copy issued earlier on May 15 in the case.Police produced Nizami before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Waliul Islam under tight security, at about 9:45am yesterday where his lawyers submitted three petitions.The petitions included a bail petition, another for providing him with first class division and the other for granting him proper ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam yesterday said the next budget would be somewhere near Tk one lakh crore with concentration on agriculture, power and rural infrastructure.He said, "Size of the budget for fiscal year 2008-09 will be a little more or less than Tk 99,500 crore. The figure has yet to be finalised as we are still working on that.”Finance ministry sources said the exact size would be known once the government settles how much to spend in subsidies for different sectors.Aziz said the budget would be announced on June 8 or 9 [Sunday or Monday]. The schedule ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008The government will import five lakh tonnes of fertiliser from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar under state arrangement to ease fertiliser crisis and boost rice production in the next fiscal year.A high-level committee led by the industries secretary has already held talks with the authorities concerned paying visit to the three countries.The proposal for importing urea may be placed before the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs today.The three countries have already sent draft contract letters to Bangladesh authorities following discussions between the committee and the authorities concerned.Qatar Fertiliser Company, QAFCO, has already informed Bangladesh that it ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008At least 50 people were injured as Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel beat up people demonstrating against assault of a Pourasava commissioner by BDR men here yesterday.The demonstrators barricaded Satkhira-Kaliganj road in the town after Pourasava commissioner Safiquddowla Sagar was assaulted and injured.The BDR swung into action on them and also assaulted pedestrians and people including journalists and women inside shops and houses nearby.Satkhira Superintendent of Police (SP) Mirza Abdullahel Baki along with police force rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.Earlier in the morning, the BDR picked up Sagar and beat him up as he ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008The much-awaited dialogue between the caretaker government and the political parties begins Thursday with some small parties sitting first to discuss reforms and ways to hold a free and fair election.So far, Workers Party of Bangladesh, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, Liberal Democratic Party and some other small parties have sent names of their party leaders to represent the respective parties in the dialogue.Meanwhile, the two major parties of the country Awami League (AL) and BNP are still “undecided” over taking part in the dialogue, which will be held at the Chief Adviser's Office.Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed will lead a panel of ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, who enjoyed leniency of the past governments, is now at an isolated cell of Dhaka Central Jail thanks to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) implicating him in the Gatco graft case that eventually led to his arrest on Sunday night.Although there is enough evidence of his involvement in atrocities during the Liberation War in 1971, he and other local collaborators of the Pakistani occupation forces managed to evade arrest.Chief of Al-Badr, a force formed with local collaborators of the Pakistani invading army to eliminate intellectuals of Bangladesh, Nizami also got off scot-free even after dozens of ...
(read more) Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Pakistani High Commissioner to Bangladesh Alamgir Babar said yesterday that his country is ready to share nuclear technology for civilian purposes with Bangladesh, to help tackle the country's massive energy crisis.Babar said Pakistan's offer is on the table and Bangladesh has to decide whether the country wants to discuss it.Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury has already discussed nuclear energy cooperation with Russia and China after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently cleared Bangladesh to use nuclear power for civilian use as energy.“We have a programme for nuclear energy. We are going ahead with that. It is up to ...
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