Bangladesh News

ACC secretary discloses his wealth statement

Friday, February 16th, 2007Secretary to the Anti-Corruption Commission Mohammad Delwar Hossain yesterday publicly disclosed statement on his personal assets, income and expenditure.This is the first time a senior bureaucrat has made such a move.The 746 employees of the ACC at present would also make their wealth statement public within the next three weeks, the ACC secretary told the press while disclosing his wealth statement at his office.The ACC would publicly disclose findings of some of the major inquiries into various allegations of corruption by the end of this month or early next month, he added."From the legal and moral point of view, all ... (read more)

Nine secretaries transferred

Monday, January 22nd, 2007The interim government yesterday made a major reshuffle in the civil administration changing nine secretaries including those of establishment, power and information ministries while contractual appointees, finance and law secretaries, resigned. Establishment secretary Abu Mohammad Moniruzzaman Khan was transferred to Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) as its rector and BPATC rector Md Abdus Salam Khan was appointed establishment secretary, says an official handout.Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) secretary Badiur Rahman was made secretary to Internal Resources Division and chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).Finance secretary Siddiqur Rahman Chowdhury and law secretary Alauddin Sarder have resigned ... (read more)

Gas sale deal with Niko approved after 2 years

Thursday, December 21st, 2006After two years of delay and disagreements, the government yesterday approved the gas sales purchase agreement (GPSA) with Canadian company Niko Resources for purchase of gas from the Feni marginal field, Niko officials said.But as promised by former energy ministry adviser Mahmudur Rahman, the GPSA is not addressing any issue related to compensation for the Tengratila gas field blowouts."The compensation issue has apparently become so quiet that it seems Bangladesh did not lose anything in the two rounds of blowouts," regretted a Petrobangla official. Two rounds of official investigations blamed Niko's poor operation and negligence for the blowouts in ... (read more)

Yunus invited to join conference marking 100 yrs of ’satyagraha’

Saturday, December 16th, 2006Nobel Peace laureate and Grameen Bank founder Prof Muhammad Yunus has been invited by India's ruling party Congress to an international conference due next month to mark the centenary of the launch of "satyagraha" movement by Mahatma Gandhi.Titled "Peace, Non-Violence and Empowerment: Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century", the two-day conference will begin on January 29.South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is among an array of eminent global personalities invited to the conference.Delegations from 54 countries, including heads of state and foreign ministers, have so far confirmed their participation in the conference that would have as its themes conflict resolution ... (read more)

Poll candidates’ assets accounts to be probed

Sunday, November 26th, 2006The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will investigate the income and assets accounts of the persons who will contest the upcoming election, ACC Chairman Justice Sultan Hossain Khan told a seminar yesterday. “The laws regarding the ACC were passed in a way that we remain ineffective but we won't be so. We will verify the asset accounts of the candidates,” he observed.“We already had talks with the Election Commission (EC) and they will give us access to the relevant information,” he said adding that there is no legal bar in this regard.The seminar titled "Corrupt and Black Money Holders Taking Part in ... (read more)

Delayed aman harvesting may prolong Monga

Tuesday, November 14th, 2006The ongoing Monga in five districts of greater Rangpur may continue for one month more due to delay in harvesting of aman paddy.While the Bengali months of Ashwin and Kartik are generally considered as the Monga period, this year's Monga may continue up to mid-Agrahayan, said officials of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) and local public representatives.Cutting of early varieties like BIRRI-33 and BIRRI-39 has started but harvesting in large areas of the district will be delayed by at least 15 days due to the prolonged drought that led to late cultivation of aman paddy, Deputy Director of ... (read more)

Import of Cars – Documents doctored to dodge Tk 25cr tax a yr

Friday, August 11th, 2006In blatant violation of the import policy, a section of vehicle importers are depriving the government of a huge amount of revenue counterfeiting import documents and tampering with engine and chassis numbers.Customs sources said around 10 percent of the annual import of about 12,000 cars are imported in fraudulent ways to evade taxes of around Tk 25 crore.In the last couple of months, Chittagong Customs House seized three consignments of cars imported evading taxes of around Tk 80 lakh. On July 10, it seized 60 buses imported this way.Some of the importers are importing old cars beyond the government ... (read more)

Shock at case

Thursday, August 10th, 2006Top business leaders, economists, bankers and civil society members were yesterday shocked at issuance of arrest warrant against five prominent citizens.They termed it 'unfortunate' and 'regrettable' and two eminent persons said should a defamation case have been filed, it should have been against the BOI Executive Chairman Mahmudur Rahman for making defamatory statements.Former adviser to the caretaker government M Hafiz Uddin Khan observed that Mahmudur Rahman should be charged for terming the CPD a 'conspirator and lair'.According to him, the prominent citizens against whom cases have been filed are very respectable persons and are not likely to hatch conspiracy. "I ... (read more)

CPD trustee board members shocked at BoI chief’s remarks

Wednesday, August 9th, 2006The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Board of Trustees has termed the remarks of the executive chairman of Board of Investment (BoI) 'very unfortunate' and said he has no idea about the trustee members. Executive Chairman of BoI Mahmudur Rahman on Sunday branded CPD as a 'conspirator and shameless liar' and blasted it for portraying a negative image of the country with 'political and purposive motive.' He also questioned patriotism of those who are involved with the CPD and share their views."We are very sorry for Mahmudur Rahman's comment in which he termed CPD a shameless liar. In fact, he ... (read more)

100pc Govt Basic Salary – Teachers gain little in conditional raise

Wednesday, August 9th, 2006Despite the government's announcement to provide cent per cent basic salary from the government exchequer, the teachers of the non-government high-schools, colleges and madrasas will not be benefited as the government attached the condition of depositing tuition fees to a government fund. The teachers will have to deposit the tuition fees collected from students to the government even though the government did not increase their house rent, medical allowance or fix a new time scale.They will still have Tk 100 as monthly house rent, Tk 150 as medical allowance and one-time increment during service in the same post.Without ... (read more)