Archive for August 13th, 2008
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008For the first time in the country's history, tax and wealth statements, and police records of people's representatives elected to city corporations and municipalities will be checked by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the police department.Informed by different sources that some of the officials-elect either submitted false information or concealed correct information, the Election Commission (EC) at a meeting on Sunday decided to launch the investigation, sources in the commission said.All sorts of documents submitted during the electoral process by the newly elected local government officials will be sent to the NBR and to the office of ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008Only incumbent and former government officials and wives of three of them have so far applied to face the Truth and Accountability Commission (Tac) in the 10 days since its inception for making voluntary disclosure of corruption.A few businessmen also visited the Tac office while politicians sent lawyers and contacted the commission themselves over phone to learn about the rules and regulations for the procedure and explanation of the Voluntary Disclosure of Information Ordinance 2008, commission sources said.Two government officials directly applied to the Tac to confess their corruption while eight applied to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for going to the ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008The eighth draft coal policy that emphasises immediate government-led action in coal sector to meet the country's surging energy demand is likely to be placed before the caretaker government's cabinet today.The draft proposes to set up a "mine Bangla" in line with Petrobangla by 2010 to spearhead different mining schemes. This government body will take strategic partners from private sector through open tenders for quick development of the schemes.Other proposals include compulsory release of 20 percent shares of a mining venture to the local market as per the laws of the Securities Exchange Commission. When selling back, shareowners will be ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008Former deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Anisur Rahman and his wife are not the biological parents of the "septuplets" rescued from their house and the children are not siblings either, revealed DNA test results.The High Court (HC) bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Farid Ahmed yesterday read out the DNA test reports before the lawyers of Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association (BNWLA) and Bangladesh Society for Establishment of Human Rights (BSEHR).In 2006, BNWLA and BSEHR filed a writ petition seeking legal custody of the children -- four boys and three girls -- rescued from the former DIG's ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008A special court sentenced Orion Group Chairman Obaidul Karim to five years' rigorous imprisonment in a Tk 2 crore money-laundering case yesterday.This is the third sentence against the Orion chief in eight months. He was condemned to life in an embezzlement case in December 2007 while in last June he got 13 years for accumulating illegal wealth and hiding information from the Anti-Corruption Commission.The court, however, acquitted former Awami League (AL) lawmaker AHM Mostafa Kamal alias Lotus Kamal and his business group's general manager ABM Selim on the laundering charges.Judge M Ashraf Hossain of Special Court 5, set up at ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008US swimmer Michael Phelps joined an elite list of Olympic greats Tuesday by becoming only the fifth competitor in history to win nine gold medals.Phelps added his name to the prestigious group of Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz and Larysa Latynina when he won the men's 200 metres freestyle with a world record swim for his third gold medal in Beijing.He appears destined to become the greatest Olympian as he continues his quest for an unequalled eight gold medals in one Games here and said the toughest three races were behind him.Phelps won six gold medals in Athens four ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008A Dhaka court yesterday ordered former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the five other accused in the MiG-29 warplane purchase graft case to appear before it on August 20.The court rejected petitions for discharging Hasina and the other accused from the case.Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder of the Special Judge's Court, Dhaka Division, also set August 20 for its decision whether to frame charges in the case.The court relieved late army chief Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, another accused in the case, of all charges. Gen Mustafiz died on August 3.Hasina, also Awami League president, now abroad for treatment, was exempted ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008The High Court (HC) yesterday stayed for three months the proceedings of a tax evasion case filed by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) against detained BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman.Responding to a writ petition filed by Tarique, an HC bench comprised of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice Md Abu Tariq also issued a rule upon the government to explain within six weeks why the initiation and continuation of this case should not be declared illegal.Meanwhile, the chamber judge of the Appellate Division Justice MA Matin sent a petition filed by Tarique Rahman -- for staying ...
(read more) Wednesday, August 13th, 2008The government has decided to observe August 15 as National Mourning Day, rescinding a previous notification that had stopped the state commemoration of the death anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.An official announcement yesterday said the national flag will be kept at half-mast at all government and non-government buildings and at Bangladesh missions abroad to mark the day.Bangabandhu was assassinated in a military putsch on August 15, 1975.“The impugned notification issued by the Cabinet Division on August 3, 2002 has been cancelled,” says the announcement.The caretaker government made the decision in compliance with the High Court order. ...
(read more) 
