The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Bangladesh ranked 7th from below among 180 countries included in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), 2007 this year, according to Transparency International (TI), the Berlin-based international anti-corruption watchdog

Transparency International, Bangladesh (TIB) yesterday afternoon provided the index report at a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club. TIB Chairman Prof Dr Muzaffar Ahmad and Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman, among others, addressed the press conference.

The TI released the CPI report yesterday allover the world that provided, in a scale of 0-10, international ranking of countries in terms of perceived degree of prevalence of political and administrative corruption.

Bangladesh's ranking has improved from the last year's 3rd to the 7th this year. Earlier, Bangladesh was placed at the botom of the list for the fifth successive years from 2001 to 2006.

According to the CPI, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand jointly ranked 1st as the least corrupt countries in the world scoring each 9.4.

On the other hand, Somalia and Myanmar have jointly ranked 1st, as the most corrupt countries.

The results show that Bangladesh has scored 2.0 and ranked 7th from below, which is the 162nd among 180 countries included in the index this year. In the same position with the same score as Bangladesh are five countries - Cambodia, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Iraq and Haiti are in the 2nd and 3rd positions respectively, Uzbekistan and Tonga are jointly in the 4th position followed by Sudan, Chad and Afghanistan (jointly 5th) while Democratic Republic of Congo, Equitorial Guinea, Laos and Guinea have ranked 6th.

Among the Asian countries, Singapore topped the list scoring 9.3 along with Sweden.

At the press conference, TIB Chairman, however, mentioned that various institutional reform measures initiated by the present government, including reform of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Election Commission, Public Service Commission, separation of the judiciary as well as ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption would result positively to curb corruption.

The TIB Chairman mentioned that the corruption trend in the developed countries is less than that of the developing countries as the policies of the developed countries are beter and their civil society is also more independent

He, however, said that behind the corruption in the developing countries, there are influences from the developed countries and multinational companies.

He mentioned that it is not possible to curb corruption without the joint efforts of the developing and developed countries.

Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Lt Gen (Retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury yesterday said the country's corruption scenario would not change overnight and whatever the score recorded in the corruption perception index of Transparency International, his Commission's fight against graft would continue.

"I don't yet know the details. Let me get the details before I make any comment," he told a news agency over telephone when his reaction was sought on the Transparency International report on the corruption index.

Staff Reporter

The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday filed a corruption case against former prime minister Khaleda Zia's eldest son and BNP's senior joint secretary general Tarique Rahman for acquiring wealth worth about Tk 5 crore.

ACC deputy director Jahurul Huda filed the first information report

(FIR) with the city's Kafrul police station at about 2:50pm against Tarique Rahman for acquiring wealth worth over Tk 4.23 crore beyond his known source of income, which was not included in his wealth statement submited to the anti-graft watchdog earlier.

In the same case, Tarique's wife Dr Jubaida Rahman and mother-in-law Iqbal Mand Banu were also made accused for helping Tarique in acquiring and possessing the illegal wealth.

It is learnt that Tarique Rahman submited a statement of his movable and immovable property to the ACC through the Dhaka Central Jail authorities on June 10 last Carrying out an investigation into the statement, the ACC investigation officials detected property worth Tk 58 lakh beyond his known income. The amount includes Tk 38 lakh fixed deposit (FDR) in the name of wife Dr Jubaida Rahman and Tk 20 lakh fixed deposit (FDR) in the name of daughter Jaima Rahman.

During the investigation, the ACC officials also found property worth Tk 4.30 crore apart from the information about wealth mentioned in the statement Thus, the illegal property worth Tk 4.81 crore was detected which was proved to be beyond the known income of Tarique Rahman.

The property worth Tk 4.30 crore which was not mentioned in the statement includes 10 katha of residential plot at Bashundhara in the name of daughter Jaima Rahman. The price of the land has been shown at Tk 4.5 lakh in the deed of the land although its real value is about Tk 1 crore. Tarique Rahman bought this piece of land in his daughter's name in 2005. Apart from this, Tarique Rahman bought 132 decimal of land at Mirpur, Gazipur on May 10, 1993 jointly with close his friend Giasuddin Al Mamun. The price of the land was shown at Tk 80,000 only in the deed of the land. Besides, there are two bighas of land bought jointly with Mamun in Gazipur and the price of the land was shown at Tk 33,000 only. Tarique has 25 decimal of land in Gazipur and the price of the land was shown at Tk 15,000 in the deed.

Moreover, Tk 4,210, Tk 50,000 and Tk 2,500 were found in three accounts of South East Bank Ltd, and Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd. He has Tk 4 crore in his name with the Daily Dinkal.

Thus, the ACC investigation officials found that Tarique concealed information about his wealth worth Tk 4.81 crore in his statement

Jahirul Huda told reporters that charges were brought against them under Section 26 (2), 27 (1) of the ACC Act 2004, Bangladesh Penal Code 109 and Section 15 (Gha) (5) of the Emergency Power Rules 2007.

Tarique, the eldest son of former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, was arrested form his mother's cantonment residence in an extortion case on March 8.

Meanwhile, BNP chairperson and ex-PM Khaleda Zia has expressed shock at the filing of corruption case implicating her eldest son Tarique Rahman, his wife Zobaida Rahman and mother-in-law Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu.

Income tax lawyer Ahmad Azam Khan stated this to reporters after meeting with Khaleda detained at a makeshift jail in parliamentbuilding compound yesterday afternoon.

Khan said Begum Zia asked her party men to continue legal fight to release detained BNP leaders.

The BNP chairperson also inquired of her detained youngest son Afarat's health condition and urged the government to send him to Singapore or Bangkok for beter treatment

Staff Reporter

Detained former Prime Minister Begum Begum Khaleda Zia yesterday denied her involvement in GATCO-scam saying she had no role in awarding container-handling contracts to GATCO.

Her counsel Advocate Ahmed Azam Khan said this yesterday immediately after his meeting with Begum Zia at her Special Jail on the premises of the Sangsad Bhaban (Parliament Building).

"The former Prime Minister has strongly denied her involvement saying she was not in-charge of the Ministry concerned and she did not know as what had happened during awarding the contract," he told journalists on the sub-lane leading to the Special Jail.

He said, "She (Begum Zia) referred to the depositions made by five senior ministers of her Cabinet to the Anti-Corruption Commission on Tuesday and said she did not know what the five ministers have told the Commission."

"I knew nothing about what had happened during awarding ICD container-handling contract to GATCO," Advocate Ahmed Azam Khan quoted Begum Zia as saying him to disclose to the journalists.

Begum Zia made the disclosure a day after her Cabinet's five former senior ministers, including M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Maulana Matuir Rahman Nizami, M Shamsul Islam and MK Anwar, who were members of the past purchase commitee, were grilled by the ACC in connection with the GATCO-scam on Tuesday.

She was arrested on September 3 on a corruption charge allegedly for her involvement in awarding container-handling contract to GATCO in two inland container depots (ICD), which the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) complained had incurred Tk 1,000 crore losses to the State.

GATCO is a private business company owned by family members of late Shipping Minister Lt Col (retd) Akbar Hossain, who was Cabinet member of Begum Zia's both the governments. The ICD terminals are under the jurisdiction of the Shipping Ministry.

Advocate Ahmed Azam Khan also said he had discussion with Begum Zia about legal maters.

Earlier in the morning, Member of the BNP Advisory Council Brig Gen (retd) ASM Hannan Shah told journalists at his New DOHS residence that Begum Zia denied her involvement in GATCO scam while talking to him over telephone immediately before her arrest on September 3.

"As the Prime Minister Begum Zia neither approved nor disapproved the mater in which she was made an accused," he claimed, adding, " She said if there had been any irregularity in this mater, the ministry concerned would primarily look into it"

Hannan Shah who was also a former Minister of the first BNP Government led by Begum Zia (1991 to 1996) said the Government purchase commitee carries out its function under a prescribed system and if there is any violation of any rule, the person concerned will be accountable.

He was not inducted in the 72-member immediate-past BNP-led alliance Cabinet for his successive failures to return to Parliaments from his home constituency.

Hannan Shah said as far as his knowledge is concerned, as a former Minister, the immediate-past Cabinet purchase-commitee functioned in accordance with rules and regulations.

He wondered that the arrest of the Begum Zia and others were made before the completion of inquiries against them.

Hannan Shah, however, did not disclose as to how many issues Begum Zia had discussed with him immediately before her arrest

He also demanded the release of two former Prime Ministers-Khaleda

Zia and Sheikh Hasina-both detained in special jails on the sprawling Sangsad Bhaban (Parliament building) complex on separate corruption charges.

He demanded the release of all political leaders detained without any

charges.

The BNP leader advised the Election Commission to fully know before speaking about political parties.

AFP, Yangon

At least four people including three Buddhist monks were killed Wednesday as Myanmar security forces used weapons and tear gas to crush protests that have erupted nationwide against the military junta.

Two of the monks were beaten to death while another was shot when he tried to wrestle a gun away from a soldier and the weapon discharged, two senior Myanmar officials told reporters.

They said the monks were killed near Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest site and a key rallying point for the clergy leading the protests now posing the biggest challenge to the junta in 20 years.

A fourth man, who was not a monk, was pronounced dead on arrival at Yangon General Hospital with gunshot wounds, a hospital source said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's junta imposed a curfew in the former capital, Yangon, and police used force on protesters, in an atempt to end anti-government demonstrations.

Protesters ignored a ban on public gatherings issued Tuesday along with a dusk-to-dawn curfew, as the generals who have turned Myanmar into one of the world's poorest and most isolated nations tried to keep a lid on the unrest

But Wednesday was the first time violence has been used to break up recent protests in Yangon, and analysts said they feared it could be a preview for an even more severe crackdown in coming days.

The UN Security Council was to meet in an emergency session in New York at 1900 GMT Wednesday to discuss the spiralling crisis, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose country is the former colonial power, said "the whole world is now watching Burma" and called for a UN envoy to be sent there to talk to the "illegitimate and repressive regime."

The White House said reports of the deadly violence were "troubling," and urged the military junta to respect human rights.

Up to 100,000 people took to the streets Wednesday, marching and shouting abuse at police despite blunt warnings from the ruling generals who have been in power for more than four decades.

Police opened fire and baton-charged protesters at the Shwedagon pagoda in Myanmar's main city, but later some 1,000 monks regrouped and paraded through the streets, to the delight of thousands of onlookers.

They roared approval for the monks and shouted at security forces: "You are fools! You are fools!"

Police and troops then fired a volley of warning shots and tear gas to try to break up the march.

Undeterred, tens of thousands of monks massed once again, marching through the main market in a protest that lasted until the early evening.

At least 100 people were injured during the day and some 200 people were arrested, as many as half of them Buddhist monks, according to witnesses and diplomats.

The party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi branded the assaults on the monks -- highly revered in the devoutly Buddhist nation -- "the greatest wrong in history."

There are fears of a repeat of 1988, the last time demonstrators rallied in such numbers in the streets of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Then, around 3,000 people were killed by the security forces.

There were sketchy reports Wednesday of huge turnouts and further clashes with police in the central city of Mandalay and in Sitwe on the western coast where 15,000 people marched.

In Yangon, a separate march headed toward the lakeside home of Aung San Suu Kyi where she has been detained for 12 of the last 18 years.

As they walked, they urged the crowd of onlookers to remain calm.

"We monks will do this," they called out "Please don't join us. Don't do anything violent"

Pro-democracy politician Win Naing and the country's most famous comedian Zaganar were earlier arrested for helping the protests.

The unrest began last month when the junta drastically raised the price of fuel overnight, deepening the misery in this already impoverished country.

The initial protests -- rare in a nation where the military quickly crushes any show of dissent -- began with only a handful of marching demonstrators.

But after the monks joined, the movement swelled, and around 100,000 people marched in Yangon on Monday and Tuesday.

The international community condemned the crackdown and warned the junta it would be held to account France said it was "unacceptable" and the European Union, following the United States' lead, threatened tougher sanctions.

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

The Emergency Ward of Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital, the second largest hospital founded in 1820, is beset with problems, including eroded floors, lack of proper ventilation, insufficient medical equipment and absence of supply water and gas connection.

A big segment of people from the southern part of the city depend on this 1000-bed hospital. People from Keraniganj and from either sides of River Buriganga also come here for treatment

The Emergency Ward has only four rooms with dirty, cratered floors and no proper doors or windows. The rooms contain six shabby observation beds. Medical waste is carelessly thrown into metallic buckets. The only ventilation system is through some holes in the upper part of the brick wall in two rooms. The electric fans are suspended from the ceiling from iron rods and the ceiling itself looks dilapidated.

"We have to sprinkle water on the eroded floor of the corridor of the Emergency Ward 10 to 12 times a day to stop blowing of dust," said Khalilur Rahman, an employee of the ward.

MA Mazid, male nurse-in-charge of the emergency unit, said, "As you can see we have no environment to treat patients here. The area is covered with dust from the potholes in the corridor."

A large room has been divided into two with hardboard panelling, on one side is the living quarters of a leader of the Class Four employees. Sometimes when the family cooks the smell wafts into the emergency room through the holes on the hardboard, on duty doctors and nurses say.

"There is no way to sterilise equipment before use here, because we do not have any boiling water in the absence of gas supply. In the absence of supply water, we have to use spirit and soap and botled water to sterilize medical instruments, Mazid said.

BSS, Dhaka

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has served notices on 10 more persons, including former minister Naziur Rahman Monju, asking them to submit their wealth statements to the commission within seven days.

ACC Secretary Mokhles-ur Rahman told journalists that Shahadat Akbar Chowdhury, son of Awami League (AL) leader Sajeda Chowdhury, was given the notice yesterday, while the nine other notices were served on Tuesday.

Of the notice recipients, three are former members of parliament They are Alamgir M Mahfuz Ullah Farid of Cox's Bazar, Majibur Rahman Manju of Kishoreganj and Atiur Rahman Atiq of Sherpur.

Other persons given the notices are- Dipu Chowdhury, son of AL leader Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, M Kutub Uddin Ahmed, protocol officer of the land ministry, Zahidul Alam, general secretary of Khagrachari district AL, Hedayet Ullah, son of AL leader Rahmat Ullah, and Mokhlesur Rahman of South Balugari of Dinajpur district

The ACC secretary said the National Coordination Commitee (NCC) against corruption and severe crimes has so far published the names of 142 persons as corrupt suspects. Out of them, 138 have been given notices.

The commission has decided to serve notices on three other persons by today. They are Liakat Sikdar, Jewel and Nazim Uddin.

The mater of one of the listed persons, Kazi Mosharraf Hossain, a CBA leader of DESA in Kushtia, remained pending due to a writ petition filed with the High Court, the secretary said.

Staff Reporter

The hearing on a writ petition filed by detained former Preme Minister Sheikh Hasina challenging the legality of the notice issued by the Anti-Corruption Commission asking her to submit her asset statement began in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court yesterday.

A High Court Division bench, comprising Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, adjourned the hearing till November 6 after a brief hearing of defence and prosecution lawyers.

Her Chief Counsel Barrister Rafique-ul Huq moved the Bench on behalf of Sheikh Hasina, who is also the President of awami League, while Atorney General Barrister Fida M Kamal represented the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), court sources said.

Barrister Shafiq Ahmed, who assisted Barrister Rafique-ul Huq during the session of the court, told journalists after the hearing that Barrister Huq submited that the ACC had violated its own rules by issuing the notice on Sheikh Hasina.

Atorney General Barrister Fida M Kamal opposed the arguments placed by Barrister Huq.

Staff Reporter

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), and five other organisations will jointly observe the International Day for Right to Information with the slogan 'Right to Information-Promise for Good Governance' on September 28.

This was disclosed by Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Executive Director of TIB at a press conference at the National Press Club. Dr Iftekhar said maintenance of secrecy in everything led people to become corrupt and it also made the administration supine.

He said information could create a bridge between demand and supply, it was hoped that the Right to Information Act would soon be made a law.

To observe the day TIB and the co-organisers will hold a roundtable meeting today at the LGED building.

Rally, open discussion, workshop, sticker campaign will be organised across the country in observance of the day.

The co-organisers are Ain O Shalish Kendra, BNNRC, D-Net, MMC, Manusher Janya Foundation (MJF).

Farzana Nayeem, Executive Director of MJF, Bazlur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of BNNRC, Mahmud Hasan, Programme Director, D-NET were present at the press conference.

Staff Reporter

Mayor of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Sadeque Hossain Khoka said the DCC has identified a 175 roads for repair and construction in the Dhaka city.

The DCC has started its repairing and construction works of these roads. Among 175 roads, the DCC has already repaired 1,000 points. Construction and repairing works of these roads will end in March next year, he added.

The Mayor said this at a view exchange meeting with the journalists to brief about the preparation of the DCC after post-flood situation and civic amenities of the city dwellers held at Conference Room of Nagar Bhaban in the city yesterday.

Mayor said all roads of the Dhaka city are not under the control by the DCC. There are some roads in the Dhaka city, which are controlled by the Roads and Highways Department (R&HD), Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK). "We have identified six link roads, which are not under control of the DCC," he also said.

The roads from Jatrabari to Buriganga Bridge, Banani Rail Crossing and Mirpur Mazar Road to Mirpur Bundh are under the R&HD, Gulshan-1 to Badda Link Road is under the RAJUK and Gabtali, Rayerbazar Bundh Area are under the BWDB," he added.

Preservation of manholes' covers is not only duty for DCC authority, Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is also responsible to maintain this, Mayor said.

Saifuddin Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DCC, said the DCC has decentralised many things including birth registration system, revenue collection and mutation, holding tax payment and other maters for the benefit of the city dwellers.

"There are 360-kilometre roads in Dhaka city and about one crore 20 million people are living in the city. But sometimes, it becomes difficult for the DCC to maintain all civic facilities at a time due to shortage of manpower," Saifuddin said.

Maksudur Rahman, Chief Conservancy Officer of the DCC, said there are 7,000 cleaners in Dhaka city where there were required 15,000 for one crore 20 million city dwellers. The number of cleaners in Mirpur and Jurain areas is too short than Dhanmondi area at present There are only 300 trucks in the city. Of them, 200 trucks are active. "We urged all to use collect garbage in two ways - kitchen dustbin for wet garbage and basket for dry garbage," he also said.

Col Md Shawkat Ali, Health Officer, Enamul Haque, General Manager of Transport Unit of the DCC, Sharfuddin Khan Zilani, Revenue Officer, Col Ashfaq, Chief Engineer of the DCC, among others, were present at the meeting.

Staff Reporter

Preparation of voter list in Dhaka will start from the last week of next month. The voter registration work would begin with the outskirts of the city like Utar Khan, Kamrangir Char and Dania.

However, the Election Commission (EC) is yet to decide when it would start the task of voter enrolment in Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).

Briefing journalists Election Commission (EC) Secretary M Humayun Kabir said that decision in this regard, would be taken at an inter-ministerial meeting scheduled to be held today at the conference room of the commission.

He said the EC in a meeting yesterday approved a draft of its new recruitment rules for the officials and employees of the commission with a provision to make all the appointments transferable.

Replying to a question, the EC Secretary said it is too early to say when the DCC election would be held. Rather, it may be disclosed after completion of voter list in the city, he added.

He indicated that it would take more time to complete the voter list in Dhaka than other places of the country.

The EC Secretary said the commission would get 8000 laptops and other equipment by the end of October through the UNDP. Of these, the EC has already got 1,000 laptops.

Availability of laptops will expedite the task of preparing the voter list, he said adding that the voter enrolment would not be delayed due to shortage of laptops.

"We will get most of the laptops by October 15," the EC Secretary said.

He hoped 10 per cent task of the voter list would be completed by the end of October and work would be started across the country by November next

The EC Secretary said according to the draft recruitment rules any official could be posted to the secretariat or field offices and the appointments would be transferable.

There will be a change only in designation not in rank if any official is transferred to secretariat from field office or to field office from secretariat, he said.

He said the approved draft of the new recruitment rules would be sent to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs for examining and then to the Public Service Commission (PSC) and Establishment Ministry for completing the other formalities.