The New Nation - Internet Edition

Gayeshwar submit his wealth statement to ACC

UNB, Dhaka

BNP leader and former state minister Gayeshwar Chandra Roy has submitted his wealth statement to the Anti-Corruption Commission showing two houses in the capital, significant lands and a plot.

In the wealth statement submitted to the Commission on Wednesday, Gayeshwar disclosed that he has a six-storied house on five decimal of land in the capital's Mohammadpur area and another two-storied house on 10 decimal land in Keraniganj.

Also there is a three-katha plot in Uttara in his wife's name. There is 472.5 decimal of land in the name of both Gayeshwar and his wife, while there is a tiny piece of land in Badda in his wife's name.

Gayeshwar and his wife have share certificates worth Tk 200,000 and 24 tolas of gold. Besides, there is a bank balance of Tk 1.58 lakh in the couple's names.

Gayeshwar, a BNP joint secretary general and former state minister for environment, has a revolver while his wife has a car and fixed deposit of Tk 1.6 million (16 lakh).

Roads and Highways executive engineer Abdul Azim Joarder and his wife Selima Begum Joarder have separately submitted their wealth statements to the ACC.

Of his wealth, Azim has 11.88 acres of land in Chuadanga district, lands in Gazipur and at Mohammadpur in Dhaka, and savings certificates worth Tk 1.3 million (13 lakh).

His wife Selima has two houses in the city's Dhanmondi, lands in city' s Mohammadpur, Tejgaon, Sabujbagh, in Gazipur and Chuadanga districts, fixed deposit of Tk 1 million (10 lakh), saving certificates of Tk 1.2 million (12 lakh) and other assets.

Meanwhile, Kazi Rezaullah, executive engineer of Public Health Engineering department, has submitted his wealth statement showing three multi-storied buildings and three plots in Khulna.

He and his family also have lands in Khulna, Satkhira, Cox's Bazar and Comilla districts.

Hearings on Hasina's Nico graft case kick off

UNB, Dhaka

Hearings on the analogous duo-rule on quashing petitions for the Niko and Barge-mounted power plant graft cases against former premier and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina, now abroad on parole for treatment, began yesterday in the High Court.

As the Division Bench comprising Justice Sheik Rezowan Ali and Justice M Rais Uddin sat, Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, the principal counsel for Hasina, made his preliminary arguments in favour of quashing the cases.

The hearings remained inconclusive. The court adjourned the hearings till August 25.

On July 7, the High Court upon separate quashing petitions filed by Hasina had stayed for two months the proceedings of the cases and issued separate rules upon the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain why the cases "should not be quashed".

The government side moved to the Supreme Court against the HC orders. On August 13, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court advised the contesting parties to get the rules resolved back in the High Court while disposing of ACC application for leave to appeal against the High Court orders.

Both the stalled cases are now pending with the special courts set up at the parliament complex that deals with high-profile corruption cases following the 1/11 change of guards in state power.

The Niko scam case awaits charge hearing and the Barge-mounted power plant case is in the phase of cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses by the defence counsel.

On September 2 last year, the ACC filed the barge-mounted power plant case with Tejgaon police station against Hasina and several others amid a crackdown on the political arena in the interim period.

The anti-graft watchdog complained that the ex-PM and other accused persons "through mutual understanding and use of influence" had helped a foreign company and its local partners win a deal for setting up a barge-mounted 100MW power plant in Khulna, depriving the lowest bidder.

On December 9 last year, the ACC filed the Niko scam case with the same police station. According to the charge sheet, the accused in collusion with one another awarded gas-extraction work in Chhatak, Kamta and Feni gas fields to Niko Resources Ltd., a Canadian company, "to gain personal financial benefit that caused a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore to the state exchequer".

German BNP unit calls on CA to free Khaleda

UNB, Dhaka

German unit of BNP in a memorandum to Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed demanded immediate release of detained party chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The memorandum, sent through the Bangladesh embassy in Germany, also asked that government to allow the former PM's detained son Tarique Rahman to go abroad for treatment, according to a press release faxed to UNB from Germany.

The Unit's President Dewan Shafiqul Islam and Secretary Masud Reza submitted the memorandum through the Bangladesh mission in Germany, the press release said, adding they later took part in a protest rally in front of the embassy.

ACC prepares 2nd list to be sent to TAC

UNB, Dhaka

The Anti-Corruption Commission has prepared a second list of 15 corrupt individuals, which will be forwarded to the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) for considering clemency in return of their ill-gotten wealth.

On August 14, the ACC sent the first list of 17 corrupt individuals to the newly formed TAC.

"A list of 15 persons has been prepared. It will be raised in the Commission's meeting on Monday. We'll send it to the TAC straightaway after the Commission's approval," ACC director general (admin) Col. Hanif Iqbal told reporters yesterday afternoon.

He said the latest list of 15 individuals seeking clemency include a teacher, a businessman, former and serving government officials and sub-registrars. The list also contains wives of some corrupt persons.

Col. Hanif, however, declined to disclose the names citing confidentiality.