The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The inquiry report on allegations of corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust has been submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Commission, however, has directed the inquiry officer to clarify some points, as those need to be made clearer.

"The inquiry report on Zia Orphanage Trust has been submitted to the Commission. There is a need for more clarifications. The inquiry officer has been directed to clarify…," ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal told the Commission's regular briefing yesterday afternoon.

Detained former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, her two detained sons, Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko, have already been quizzed in this connection. Hanif told the briefing that a foreign grant of about Tk 4 crore arrived in 1992-1993 that was deposited with a bank and the figure rose to about Tk 5.3 crore with interest.

Later, the then Prime Minister's Office divided the money into two amounts and gave the money to two orphanage-related projects in Bogra and Khulna, he said.

"The inquiry is about financial management (of the money). The inquiry was intended to find out how logically the money has been used," Hanif said.

He said the inquiry was also to ascertain whether the two projects were implemented, who were involved with and detect whether there were any irregularities and corruption.

Responding to a question, the ACC director general did not clearly say who actually made the complaint about the alleged corruption in the Trust.

Asked who were subject to inquiries, he said it could not be said until the clarifications by the inquiry officer.