NEWS UPDATES
May, 2008
Thursday, May 29 2008.
Awami League presidium member Tofail Ahmed was sued by the Anti Corruption Commission Thursday on charges of graft.
According to case details, Tofail was accused of amassing about Tk 2.45 crore in illegal wealth and hiding information about Tk 1.86 crore in assets.
The case also involves Tofail's wife Anwara Ahmed and their daughter Dr Taslima Ahmed Zaman, police said. Golam Shahrier Chowdhury, deputy director of ACC, filed the case.
Anwara and Taslima stand accused of assisting Tofail in illegal acts, Ramna police sub-inspector Ahsan Habib Khan said.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Anticorruption Commission Tuesday submitted a chargesheet against Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil in a case that involves the charges of concealing information about assets and earning wealth beyond his known source of income.
ACC deputy assistant director Md Enamul Haque Chowdhury, as the investigation officer of the case, filed the chargesheet with the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court.
Jalil is on parole for medical treatment in Singapore.
The case was filed with Ramna Police Station on Dec 18 last year.
The FIR and the chargesheet mentioned that Jalil in his wealth statement to the ACC had concealed information about wealth worth Tk 36.04 lakh and earned Tk 35.08 lakh beyond his known income source.
Jalil also faces the charge of transferring Tk 5 crore illegally.
The case included in the Emergency Powers Rules names 25 people as state witnesses.
Thursday, May 22, 2008.
The Anti Corruption Commission has approved a final report to submit for eight Roads and Highways engineers, as the bribe-taking charges could not be proved against them, due to lack of evidence, an official said.
ACC director general (administration) colonel Hanif Iqbal revealed the news of approval to reporters Thursday, without disclosing further details.
A taskforce of national coordination committee for gravious offencs held the engineers and an official of a construction firm in a coffee shop in the city on Jan 10 on suspicion that the engineers shared bribes among themselves.
It was initially reported that members of the taskforce had also seized Tk 13.99 lakh from their possession.
A day after their arrest, a Dhaka court sent the arrestees to jail, and police told reporters at the time that they had confessed to taking bribes.
The arrestees include RHD additional chief engineers Mozammel Huq (Dhaka Division), Mominul Huq (Comilla Division) and Md Rafiqul Islam (Comilla Division) and Abdullahel Kafi (Rangpur), and project coordinator of the firm Mamtajuddin.
It was alleged that the firm was awarded the lease of toll collections for Rupsha Bridge and the firm offered the bribe to the RHD officials for extending the lease period.
Thursday May 22, 2008
A Dhaka court has ordered the remaining seven fugitives in the GATCO graft case, including former finance minister M Saifur Rahman, to appear in court by May 28.
Metropolitan senior special judge Md Azizul Haque asked authorities Thursday to publish a gazette notfication in this regard, and also ordered former prime minister Khaleda Zia and others already arrested in the case to appear the same day.
Khaleda and other detained accused were scheduled to appear in court Thursday, but prison authorities failed to produce them for security reasons, said defense counsel advocate Masud Ahmed Taluker.
Advocate Sanaullah Miah, one of Khaleda's lawyers, told bdnews24.com: "We have asked the court to review all the documents and the chargesheet in the case, and the court is obliging us on that matter."
Some 24 people have been made accused in the case so far; 17 people have been detained while seven remain fugitive.
The fugitives are former finance minister and acting BNP chairperson M Saifur Rahman, former commerce minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, former shipping secretary Julfiker Haider Chowdhury, Jahanara Ansar, wife of former shipping minister Akbar Hossain, and three GATCO directors AKM Musa Kajal, Shahjahan M Hasib and Ehsan Yusuf.
Wednesday May 21, 2008.
A Dhaka court began recording witness testimonies Wednesday in the barge mounted power plant trial against detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Anticorruption Commission deputy director AMM Sabbir Hassan, a plaintiff in the case, gave his testimony to the special court set up on the Sangsad Bhaban premises.
After a two-hour long deposition beginning shortly after 10 am, and presided over by judge Md Feroz Alam, defence lawyers questioned the witness. Their cross examination will continue Thursday.
Charge framing against Hasina and all other accused in the case was concluded on May 18.
If found guilty, Hasina may face a prison term of three to 12 years. She may also be barred from contesting any elections, if convicted.
The Anticorruption Commission filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on Sept 2, 2007, against eight people including Sheikh Hasina.
According to the case details, the Power Development Board floated international tenders on Oct 24, 1996, for installation of three barge-mounted plants in Haripur, Shikalbaha and Khulna.
During Sheikh Hasina's tenure as prime minister, two private firms—Summit Group and United Group—were allegedly awarded the contracts through irregular means during the period Oct 24, 1996 to Nov 24, 1997, depriving the lowest bidders.
The AL president is also accused of accepting a house in Dhanmondi and a plot of land registered in the name of the Bangabandhu Memorial Trust from the Summit and United Groups in exchange for the contracts.
Hasina was shown arrested in the case on Sept 19 last year, while former power secretary Toufique-e-Elahi Chowdhury, also accused in the case, surrendered to the court on Jan 16.
The former prime minister was arrested from her Dhanmondi residence on July 16.
Wednesday May 14, 2008.
The Anticorruption Commission Wednesday sued the Bangladesh ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Nazimullah Chowdhury, on charges of abusing power and misusing state funds.
The envoy cost the state coffers Tk 21 lakh in losses, the ACC alleged quoting an initial investigation.
The envoy is accused of shifting the ambassador's home to a more expensive location in Abu Dhabi, buying household materials and appointing gardeners by misappropriating money.
Deputy director of the ACC Abdullah Al Zahid who filed the case made a trip to the UAE in February to probe corruption allegations against the envoy and other embassy officials.
The graft case is the first against any ambassador of the country as part of the government's anticorruption crackdown.
Tuesday May 13, 2008.
The Anticorruption Commission Tuesday submitted a chargesheet against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and 24 others in the GATCO scam case, an official said.
Mohammad Zahirul Huda, deputy director of ACC and investigation officer of the case, submitted the chargesheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court for Dhaka.
Huda told bdnews24.com: "A total of 25 people have been named in the chargesheet."
This is a second chargesheet in a corruption case against Khaleda in eight days. The first chargesheet was submitted against Khaleda in the Niko scam case on May 5.
The chargesheet named 86 witnesses, Huda said.
Police arrested Khaleda and son Arafat Rahman Coco, also accused, on Sept 3 last year, hours after the filing of the GATCO case.
Thursday May 08, 2008.
The Anticorruption Commission Thursday approved a chargesheet against 24 people, including former prime minister Khaleda Zia, in the GATCO corruption case, a senior official said.
"The ACC approved the chargesheet against the 24 people as allegations against them were proved in a primary investigation," ACC director general (administration) Colonel Hanif Iqbal told reporters in his Segunbagicha office.
The accused were responsible for costing the state coffers Tk 14.56 crore in losses, which was proved in the initial investigation, he said.
Former ministers M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Motiur Rahman Nizami were also accused in the case.
The ACC filed the case on Sept 2 last year with Tejgaon Police Station alleging that GATCO's contract to run the container depot at Chittagong Port was illegal.
The case was brought under the emergency powers rules on Sept 17.
Khaleda's son Arafat Rahman Coco also stands accused of corruption in the case.
Khaleda was arrested on Sept 3 in connection with the case.
The case record shows that a tender was floated on March 1, 2003 to appoint a contractor for the container depots at Chittagong Port and Kamalapur Rail station.
The accused awarded the tender to GATCO even though the company failed to meet all the conditions.
It was alleged in the case that the government incurred more than Tk 1,000 crore in losses because of the GATCO deal.
Thursday May 08, 2008.
The Anticorruption Commission Thursday quizzed Justice Fazlul Haque, former caretaker government adviser, in a case that involves charges of amassing money by unfair means and concealing information about wealth, an official said.
The same day, the ACC filed a case against Haque's son-in-law Tariqur Rahman with the Cantonment Police Station for not submitting a wealth statement by the deadline.
The ACC official preferring anonymity said Haque and his wife Sultana Haque were quizzed from 9:30am to 4:00pm at the commission's office in Segunbagicha.
ACC assistant director Mohammad Ibrahim filed the case against Fazlul Haque with Ramna Police Station on April 13.
According to case details, the former judge earned Tk 97.37 lakh by unfair means.
The ACC had earlier opened an investigation into the wealth of Justice Haque.
According to an investigation report, the ACC also found Tk 14 crore in the bank accounts of Haque's son Afzal Hossain Raj, son-in-law Tariqur Rahman Prince and son's friends.
ACC did not find any source of the money.
In his wealth statement to the ACC, Haque said he owned property worth Tk 1.25 crore.
Wednesday May 07 2008.
The Anticorruption Commission Wednesday submitted a chargesheet against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and eight others in a Niko scam case.
The ACC handed the chargesheet to Tejgaon Police Station, which was turned in to the additional metropolitan magistrate court No. 3.
Magistrate Golam Rabbani received the chargesheet.
The graft watchdog had earlier approved the chargesheet against Hasina and another former prime minister Khaleda Zia and 10 others in separate Niko graft cases on April 30.
ACC deputy director AMM Sabbir Hassan who filed the cases against the accused on Dec 9 last year submitted the chargesheet against the Awami League president.
Hasina, during her term as a prime minister allegedly approved a Niko deal in 2001, which cost the government Tk 13,630.50 crore in losses, according to case details.
The case alleged that Niko Resources was "very inefficient" in different aspects, including technical know-how for oil explorations, but the deal was approved in violations of a proper procedure.
The BNP-led government also connived with Niko in implementing an "illegal" joint venture agreement soon after the alliance assumed power in October 2001, according to the case filed against Khaleda.
Khaleda, the then prime minister, allegedly ignored opinions of the gas experts and took sides with Niko on the deal, costing the state Tk 10,000 crore in losses.
Tuesday, May 06 2008.
Anticorruption Commission Tuesday pressed charges with Dhaka CMM's Court against former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar, BNP senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman, Basundhara Group owner Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and five others.
Deputy assistant director ACC Rupak Kumar Saha submitted the chargesheet.
The chargesheet alleged that Babar demanded Tk 50 crore in bribe for dropping the names of Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam, his two sons Safiyat Sobhan and Shahadat Sobhan and another director, Abu Sufian, from the list of the accused in the Basundhara director Humayun Kabir Sabbir murder case.
Babar, Tarique and their accomplice Miah Nuruddin Apu took Tk 1 crore in bribe. Besides Babar himself took Tk 20 crore bribe in eight cheques. The accused persons kept Tk 20 crore in an account of Prime Bank owned by businessman Kazi Salimul Haque.
Salimul Haque has also been made an accused in the case in which 28 persons have been listed as witnesses.
ACC deputy assistant director Abul Kashem on Oct 4 last year filed the Tk 21 crore bribe case with Ramna Police Station.
The murder case was filed in 2006.
Monday, May 05 2008.
The Anticorruption Commission Monday submitted a chargesheet against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and 10 others in a Niko scam case.
ACC assistant director SM Sahidur Rahman turned in the chargesheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court for Dhaka.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Md Golam Rabbani received the chargesteet.
The ACC approved chargesheets against Khaleda and another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and 18 others in separate Niko corruption cases on April 30.
The graft watchdog filed the twin cases against the accused on Dec 9 last year.
Khaleda and 10 others stand accused of costing the state coffers Tk 13,777 crore.
ACC deputy director Mahbubul Alam filed the case against Khaleda.
The case alleged that Niko Resources was "very inefficient" in different aspects, including technical know-how for oil explorations, but the deal was approved in violations of a proper procedure.
The BNP-led government connived with Niko in implementing an "illegal" joint venture agreement soon after the four-party alliance assumed power in October 2001, it was alleged in the case filed against Khaleda.
Niko applied to state minister for energy Mosharraf Hossain to close the deal, but some experts of Petrobangla and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company (BAPEX) opposed the agreement, according to case details.
Khaleda, the then prime minister, allegedly ignored opinions of the gas experts and took sides with Niko on the deal, costing the state Tk 13,777 crore in losses.
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