Robbery on passenger train

A Dhaka-bound passenger train from Chittagong came under attack by robbers in Brahmanbaria Monday morning.

The police fired six rounds warning shots to drive the robbers out of the Dhaka Mail train.

The Rail Police, quoting passengers said a gang of 20 to 25 armed robbers got into the train at Paghachong village in Sadar upazila and stopped the train by cutting vacuum pipes of three compartments at the outer signal of Paghachong Rail Station at 4:00am.

As the robbers attempted to snatch luggage, mobile phone sets and money from passengers at gun point some passengers raised hue and cry.

Hearing cry for help rail police went to the compartments when the robbers swooped on the police.

The bandits fired at cops and hurled stone chips at them and also beat some passengers as they tried to resist them, leaving 6 people injured.

The robbers also beat railway technician as they tried to repair the torn vacuum pipes, leaving them injured.

At one stage, the bandits engaged in fight with police who attempted to rescue passengers from the clutches of robbers.

Being attacked the police used sticks and fired 6 to 7 rounds warning shots to drive the robbers away.

The gangsters escaped the compartments at 5:00am.

Source : New Aeg

EC will reply to BNP’s remarks

The Election Commission will respond to the BNP's letter calling the commission 'controversial', the chief election commissioner has said.

Speaking to reporters at his office on Monday, ATM Shamsul Huda said, 'They (BNP) have levelled a baseless charge against an organisation (EC). I think we should convey our mind about the allegations to the party.'

He said the process of sending a letter to the BNP in this regard was under way.

The main opposition party, in a letter to the EC last week, slammed the commission and rejected its invitation to a dialogue with registered political parties on several issues, including amendment of the Representation of the People Order and introducing electronic voting system.

In the letter, the party said, 'We think that it would be proper for the controversial commission in its last hours to leave the work of amending election laws for the next commission.'

'Discussion with the current EC, which has lost people's faith due to its nepotism and fragile behaviour, will not be successful,' it added.

Source : New Age

One more killed in UP polls

One more person was killed and at least 100 others injured in violence during and ahead of Monday's polling in 25 unions for electing as many new local councils at the tier. 

The violence took place during polling and the preceding Sunday night.

Earlier, 29 people were killed in violence in the second phase of the staggered union parishad elections, which began on May 31, amid stray clashes, intimidation and snatching of ballot boxes. The elections are set to end on July 5.

Elections in 196 unions are scheduled to be held today.

New Age correspondent in Rangamati reported that 28-year old Kalonkor Chakma, was killed in post-poll violence at Baghaichari in Rangamati Sunday night.

According to neighbours miscreants killed Kalonkor, near his residence in the village Uttar Publakhali in Khedamara union.

He was election agent of Kantimoy Chakma a chairman candidate of Khedamara union in Baghaichari upazila.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer Boshirul Alam said that police and military personnel recovered his body on Sunday midnight and sent it to Khagrachari Hospital Monday morning for autopsy.

Our Correspondent in Pabna reported that three assistant presiding officers and two police constables were injured on Sunday night in attacks by supporters of the defeated member candidate at Bohorpur Primary School polling centre of Muladuli union in Ishwardi upazila during announcement of election result.

Ishwardi police station officer-in-charge Kazi Hanful Islam said that the on duty officers came under attack from the unruly supporters.

The on duty officers and the police deployed at the centre tried in vain to tackle the situation.

According to United News of Bangladesh in Nilphamari at least 25 people were injured as local people clashed with police over the announcement of election results at a polling centre in Jaldhaka upazila on Sunday.

Witnesses said supporters of Hafijul demanded recounting of votes rejecting the result alleging that presiding officer Abdul Mannan declared Rubel as elected a member.

Later, Hafijul's supporters encircled the presiding officer and the other polling officials.

The police and BGB personnel rushed to the spot and their bid to rescue the polling officers triggered a clash that left 25 people injured.

The police said that fired 41 rubber bullets and lobbed 12 tear-gas canisters to quell the situation and rescue the officers.

In Natore, at least 20 people were injured in a clash between the supporters of two defeated chairman candidates at Bildohar Bazaar in Chamari union under Singra upazila Sunday morning.

Police and witnesses said the clash between the supporters of the two defeated candidates, Shahadat Hossain and Lutfar Rahman, followed altercation over a trifling matter.

At one stage the two groups carrying sticks and other weapons attacked each other, leaving people injured on both the sides.

Source : New Age

Ershad questions jurisdiction of court

The Jatiya Party chairman, HM Ershad, has questioned the jurisdiction of the court in annulling constitutional provision adopted by parliament.

'I wonder whether this parliament has the sovereignty,' he said referring to the Supreme Court holding illegal the caretaker government provision of the Constitution incorporated in the 13th amendment by parliament.

It is the jurisdiction of the parliament to decide whether the system of caretaker government will exist or not, said the former president while taking part in

general discussion on the budget on Monday.

Ershad who ruled the country for nearly nine years said parliament has so far passed 14 amendments to the Constitution and the Supreme Court had cancelled three amendments.

'We know the hand of the Supreme Court is too long but does it so long to reach out the parliament?' he questioned.

Ershad said cancellation of law passed by parliament tantamount to making parliament needless and 'we the members of parliament are fools.'

However, he said, laws passed by parliament are not sacrosanct. Any law can be changed when it is deemed necessary. Parliament should have the exclusive power to cancel any law.

'They way parliament members were humiliated cannot  be accepted, he added.

Ershad urged the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to take stern action against the share market plunderers.

'Let it be proved that mass people are important to the prime minister than few individuals,' he said.

Ershad said nearly 33 lakh people have been pushed on to the street empty-handed by some culprits who manipulated the share market.

He said the government had lost one crore voters following the recent scam committed in the share market. 'We have to bring those voters to our side and woo back them to cast their votes in our favour,' he said.

The former president asked the government to take immediate and effective steps to bring the culprits to justice. 'Those who are guilty will have to be punished.'

Expressing concern over the price hike of essentials and rising inflation, he said food price would have to be controlled to bring back smile on the face of the commoners.

He urged the prime minister to take appropriate steps to keep the prices of essentials within the reach of the poor consumers during the holy month of Ramadan. 'If we fail to control the prices of essentials, it will dampen our achievements.'

Ershad sought exemplary punishment, if possible capital punishment, for those who are mixing poison with fruits and foodstuff.

He opposed the government step to send female workers abroad. 'It won't be a wise decision. We don't need the money earned in exchange of prestige of our women.'

He termed the issue of Limon shot and injured by RAB unfortunate but extended full support to RAB for controlling law and order. He said because of RAB, people have been able to live in peace. He suggested strengthening of the RAB.

Ershad criticised the finance minister for cutting subsidy on agricultural inputs and increasing fertiliser price. 'Review the proposals. Don't hurt the farmers.'

He also suggested re-fixing tax at source at 0.40 per cent instead of 1.5 to help grow the export sector.

Ershad proposed five beds for the poor in each private hospital so that the poor patients get access to healthcare services.

Source : New Age

Hasina terms critics a band of opportunists

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has ridiculed critics who she said find faults with the government and shower good advices in their writings and TV talk-shows, seminars and discussions.

In a signed article titled 'Bhalor Pasra' (good advices on display) and carried by a number of Bengali dailies on Monday, she said that such intellectuals were trading in poverty and miseries of the poor.

She said that such intellectuals were blind to the good things done by her government which she said had already done a lot for the betterment of the country and the people.

She said, 'The reason is that they are on demand when there is an undemocratic or unconstitutional government. Such type of people are unable to go to the people or get themselves elected, but cannot give up their greed for power. That's why they are untiring in talking about democracy though they are simply a band of sycophants readily available to flatter undemocratic or unconstitutional governments.'

'The people are benefited if the pro-liberation force is in power. But if there is no poverty, this class will lose business because poor people are their main commodity. They make fortune on the sufferings of the poor.'

'I will not allow any more game with the fate of my countrymen till I am alive,' Hasina vowed.

She, however, conceded that the critical comments of intellectuals were influencing the general people.

She also censured the intellectual for not being critical of past governments.

'The intellectuals who seem as if they are about to jump out of the television screen and pounce on my government, fall silent during military rule,' she said.

She said that no dialogues, talks and advices were heard after the carnage of August 15, 1975, killing of four Awami League leaders in jail on November 3, 1975 and killing of freedom fighters in early 80s.

This section of people turned active when military dictators began trading in politicians, she said adding that those who fell behind, cried out: 'use me'.

Those who were finally left out, changed their faces with the changes in the situation and turned revolutionists, said the prime minister in her signed article.

The people, who were critical of her 1996-2001government, remained silent during the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government, she said.

Hasina said that 13 secretaries of the government were sacked immediately after Justice Latifur Rahman was sworn in as the caretaker government chief in 2001 even before the appointment of the 10 other advisers, frightening the administration, but none of this band of people protested against the action.

She asked the then president Shahabuddin Ahmed and chief adviser Latifur Rahman how the telephone lines and power supply to Ganabhaban were snapped when the law enacted by parliament to provided security to the living two daughters of the country's founding president Sheikh Mujubur Rahman was in force.

'Who among this section of people protested against such injustice,' she said.

During the BNP-led alliance rule in 2001-2006, people were killed by the army in the name of 'operation clean heart', Awami League's research centre was closed down, Rapid Action Battalion was formed and killing of people in the name of 'crossfire' began, but there were no protests at that time, she said.

The prime minister said that at that time she had criticised the formation of RAB and 'crossfire' but faced criticism from this section of people.

Hasina also said that a military coup was attempted in May 19-20, 1996. During the tenure of the caretaker government led by Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman, a military coup was plotted to strangle democracy.

The then president Abdur Rahman Biswas also tried to hinder handover of power to the elected government led by her, Hasina said.

Source : New Age

Budget not executable for uncertain funding: BNP

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday termed the proposed budget for fiscal 2011-2012 'a document of statistical jugglery' and said it was 'not feasible to implement because of uncertain funding'.

'This budget is not feasible to implement because of uncertain funding. The budget is not pro-poor and not pro-investment as well,' BNP standing committee member MK Anwar told a news conference at the party chairperson's Gulshan office in the capital. 

This formal reaction of the BNP to the proposed budget for the next fiscal year came about 20 days after it had been tabled in the parliament.

Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on June 9 proposed the next national budget of Tk 1,63,589 crore with a huge deficit and whacking revenue collection and GDP growth goals.

MK Anwar while reading out a written statement said, 'This is a document of statistical jugglery with wrong information, which does not have any guideline.'

He gave some examples of how the planning and finance ministries had tampered with the statistics of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in the current fiscal year.

The party, however, agreed that the budget was not too big in view of the country's demands.

The BNP leader said the proposed process of whitening of black money should be stopped.

'The budget encourages

taking loans from foreign sources to offset its huge deficit, which will put a pressure on the country's overall economy,' the party observed in the statement.

MK Anwar termed the revenue earning plan of the proposed budget unrealistic. 'The revenue earning target has been set at Tk 1,18,385 crore, posting a 24 per cent rise from the current one. Besides, non-tax revenue earning target has also been increased by 40 per cent from the current one to Tk 22,600 crore.'

'This excess money will be collected from the people either by imposing taxes or in exchange of different government services. The low-income group of the population will be the hardest hit by the process of collecting this excess fund,' Anwar remarked.

He claimed many of the projects proposed in the budget were aimed at making political gains and called on the government to scrap the 'political projects' to reduce the financial pressure on the poor.

The BNP leader slammed the government for including formation of the prime minister's higher education fund and construction of a museum on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the budget as corporate social responsibility projects.

About the projected gross domestic product growth rate, he said it would in no way be 6.7 per cent. He quoted the GDP growth projections made by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to substantiate his prediction. 'The World Bank projected the GDP growth rate at 6.2 per cent while the ADB said it would be 6.3 per cent.'      

On the country's poverty scenario, he said, 'About 35 lakh more people have gone below the poverty line in the past two and a half years.'

He also said the rate of inflation would be much higher than that projected in the proposed budget.

The BNP said the proposed budget did not contain any measure for implementing the pledged made by the Awami League in its election manifesto.

'Nothing will be implemented if the government fails to maintain law and order, check the decline of economic indicators, and does not ensure good governance, curbing unabated corruption,' he pronounced.

Anwar came down heavily on the finance minister for his statement on allowing India transit facility. 'Bangladesh will never turn into a Switzerland; it will rather turn into Sikim, if transit is allowed,' he maintained. 

'The finance minister could have offered cash incentive or reduce the interest rate [on bank loans given to industries), but the minister was totally silent on measures to save the country's huge industrial sector,' The BNP stalwart said. 

Finance minister AMA Muhith has proposed to increase the duty at source on export earnings from 0.4 and 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent and it would have severe adverse impacts on the export-oriented industries, said Anwar.

He termed the reduction of value-added tax on turnovers of small and medium enterprises from 4 per cent to 3 per cent keeping the taxable turnover threshold at Tk 60 lakh 'meaningless'. 'The minimum turnover amount should be increased to Tk 1 crore.'

The government plans to cut the tax at source on income earned from saving certificates from 10 per cent to 5 per cent but has not increased the interest rate on the certificates, Anwar pointed out.

He said the provision that every company would have to pay 0.5 per cent turnover tax, regardless of profit or loss, should be dropped from the budget.

Anwar criticised the government move for collecting tax from the civil servants and said it would make the administration devoid of talented officials.

BNP chairperson's advisers Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Enam Ahmed Chowdhury, Osman Faruk, Sabihuddin Ahmed, and Abdul Awal Mintoo were also present at the conference.

Source : New Age

ICC issues arrest warrants for Gaddafi

Judges at the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for war crimes and crimes against humanity on Monday, the 100th day of a NATO bombing campaign.

Britain, which has led the UN-mandated international effort to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces, hailed the court's decision and said members of the Libyan regime should now abandon him.

Italy said the decision of the three-judge court, set up in 2002 to try war crimes, confirmed that Gaddafi had lost all 'moral legitimacy' and could have 'no role in the future of his country.'

And French foreign minister Alain Juppe said the warrant 'confirms that the question is not whether Gaddafi should leave power, but when he will leave power.'

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had

sought the warrants for Gaddafi, 69, his son Seif al-Islam, 39, and the head of Libyan intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, 62, for murder and persecution since mid-February, when the bloody uprising started.

All three are charged over their roles in suppressing the revolt, in which civilians were murdered and persecuted by Libyan forces, particularly in Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata, the prosecutor said.

Thousands have so far died in the fighting, while around 650,000 others fled the country. Another 243,000 Libyans have been displaced internally, according to UN figures.

Moreno-Ocampo said on Sunday that the war crimes in Libya will not stop until Gaddafi is arrested.

'Crimes continue today in Libya. To stop the crimes and protect civilians in Libya, Gaddafi must be arrested.'

The prosecutor will give his response to the decision on Tuesday.

The only other warrant issued by the ICC for a sitting head of state, for Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir in March 2009, has yet to be served. Bashir was due to begin a state visit to China later Monday.

Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said: 'These individuals are accused of crimes against humanity and should be held to account before judges in a criminal court,' he said, calling on the Libyan government to cooperate with the investigation.

'Individuals throughout the regime should abandon Gaddafi.'

And NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said arrest warrant shows that time is running out for the increasingly isolated Libyan leader.

'This decision once again highlights the increasing isolation of the Gaddafi regime,' he said in a statement.

'It reinforces the reason for NATO's mission to protect the Libyan people from Gaddafi's forces. Gaddafi and his henchmen need to realise that time is rapidly running out for them,' he added.

The head of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, meanwhile told a news conference in the rebel capital of Benghazi that 'justice had been done,' while rebel justice minister Mohammed Al-Allagy told reporters outside the ICC: 'We are going to arrest them.'

Al-Allagy said: 'First arrest them, we will decide afterwards where to prosecute them.'

In his submission, Moreno-Ocampo said Gaddafi had a personal hand in planning and implementing 'a policy of widespread and systematic attacks against civilians and demonstrators and dissidents in particular.'

'Gaddafi's plan expressly included the use of lethal force against demonstrators and dissidents,' the submission said.

The Libyan strongman also ordered sniping at civilians leaving mosques after evening prayers. His forces carried out a systematic campaign of arrest and detention of alleged dissidents, it said.

'Gaddafi's plans were carried out through his inner circle, which included Seif al-Islam, Gaddafi's de-facto prime minister and his brother-in-law Al-Senussi, considered to be his right-hand man,' the submission said.

Moreno-Ocampo's investigation follows a referral by the United Nations Security Council on the Libyan conflict on February 26. The prosecutor's office launched its investigation five days later. On May 16, Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for the warrants.

The ICC is the world's only permanent, treaty-based court set up to try those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide if the accussed's own country cannot or will not do so.

NATO meanwhile said it was hitting around 50 targets a day and that its 'Operation Unified Protector' was approaching its 5,000th strike sortie.

The air strikes appear to have helped the rebels launch an offensive of their own against Gaddafi's forces. However, only in Nafusa does the rebel army of ill-equipped irregulars and defectors appear to be making any sustained progress.

Source : New Age

Stuart Law named as new cricket coach

Former Australia batsman Stuart Law has been appointed the new head coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team for two years, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said at a press conference on Monday.

The 42-year-old Queenslander, who is currently working as the interim-coach of Sri Lanka, will begin his stint with the Tigers with the tour of Zimbabwe in July-August.

Law replaced compatriot Jamie Siddons, who was shown the door by the BCB in April after a disappointing World Cup performance.

'He has agreed terms for a two-year contract

with the BCB and is expected to join the squad ahead of the series against Zimbabwe,' chairman, media committee of the BCB Jalal Younus told the press conference.

Law said he was relishing the challenge of working with the youthful and talented Tigers squad.

'I'm really excited by this opportunity the BCB

has presented me with.  It's a great honour,' a BCB statement quoted him as saying.

'To leave Sri Lanka Cricket is not a decision that was taken lightly.

My time with them has been a most enjoyable journey and I'd really like to thank everyone involved there for their support,' he said. 

'A new challenge awaits me now in Dhaka, which I believe I'm ready for.  To coach a national side I think is any coach's goal, so to get the opportunity to work with what I think is a very talented bunch of cricketers is particularly exciting.'

'I look forward to the times ahead and taking Bangladesh to the next level,' he said.

Source : New Age

657 BGB men jailed on mutiny charge

A special court on Monday sentenced 657 soldiers of a unit of the Border Guard Bangladesh and its attached battalions to imprisonment, ranging from four months to seven years, on charge of mutiny in 25-26 February, 2009 in Dhaka.

The Special Court-7, chaired by BGB's director general Major General Rafiqul Islam, also fined each of the convicts, including eight freedom-fighters, Tk 100 each. It acquitted nine accused of the charge.

Of the soldiers, who were

in the dock in shackles without BGB uniform, 108 were given the highest punishment — rigorous imprisonment for seven years under the Bangladesh Rifles Order 1972.

Nine border guards were jailed for 6 years, eight for 5 years, three for 4 years and 6 months, twenty-six for four years, fifty-seven for 3 years and 6 months, fifty-two for 3 years, eighteen for 2 years and 6 months, eighty-two for 2 years, fifty-five for 1 year and 6 months, two for 1 year and 3 months, and sixty-seven for 1 year.

Besides, 34 were jailed for nine months, 47 for six months and 89 for four months.

The court started delivering the judgment at about 10:15am and finished at 1:19pm.

This was the fourth verdict in a case filed on mutiny charges in Dhaka after the bloody February 2009 rebellion in the headquarters of the then Bangladesh Rifles.

The trials of seven

more cases against 3,119 soldiers of seven units of the Dhaka sector and the BGB headquarters are going on.

The special court-7 acquitted nine out of 666 accused of mutiny: Havildar Abdul Khalek, Nayek Tapan Kumar Devnath, Lance Nayek Abul Kalam Azad, Sepoys Sheikh Md Shamim Reza, Mohammad Reazul Islam, Shaheen Farazi, Rabiul Islam, Emran Miah and Habibur Rahman.

The court asked the police to unlock their handcuffs soon after they were acquitted.

Of the acquitted, only three pleaded guilty and four were not present at Pilkhana during the mutiny, the case's prosecutor, Major Khan Mohammad Alauddin, told reporters at a press conference.

Some of the family members of the convicted waiting outside the BGB gate told New Age that they had not got justice from the court.

'Now my father is a criminal! We are ruined by the verdict,' said the daughter of a convict.

The court's chair said that all the accused,

except 31 who had pleaded guilty, had claimed to be innocent but were convicted on being found guilty after examining the depositions of witnesses and documents and carrying out cross-examinations.

He said that the court had taken into consideration four major matters, including Articles 45 and 52 of the Constitution, during the trial.

He said that they

had also considered the behaviour of the accused during the trial and also their previous service records.

So far 2,854 out of 6,052 soldiers under trial have been sentenced by special courts across the country on charge of involvement in the mutiny.

Seventy-two soldiers have so far been acquitted of the charges by the specials courts.

The proceedings against the members of the paramilitary force began on 31 March, 2010.

The charges brought against the border guards were violation of the orders of the BDR officers, dumping the bodies of slain army officers into mass graves and ditches, not preventing other soldiers from taking part in the mutiny and not informing the higher authorities of the rebellion in which 75 people, including 57 army officers, were killed.

The case's prosecutor, Major Khan Mohammad Alauddin, said that the acquitted soldiers would be reinstated in the force.

Fifty-eight prosecution witnesses — most of them BGB members and army officers — made depositions against the convicts during the trial, and 86 defence witnesses — family members and relatives — made depositions in favour of the accused.

The prosecutor filed cases against 668 members of the unit, of whom Nayek Zaynal Abedin Bhuyan died on 14 March, 2010 and Havildar Motiur Rahman on 15 May in jail.

Fifty-seven cases, including 11 in Dhaka, were filed after the mutiny that involved all but

nine BGB units across the country.

Source : New Age

No house session in election time

The parliamentary standing committee on the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry on Monday decided to make some changes to the constitution amendment bill in order to skip holding a session of the outgoing parliament after a gap of 60 days inside the last three months before general elections.

The committee took the decision while examining the bill and hoped that the scrutiny would be completed in its meeting scheduled for today, sources in the committee said.

The committee discussed functions of the government in its last three months and decided to include a clause in the Article 141 (A).

'We have decided to include the clause to skip holding a session of the house after a gap of 60 days before general elections,' the committee chairman, Suranjit Sengupta told reporters after the meeting.

He said that the provision for holding an election-time parliament session would be dropped so that polls could be conducted in free, fair and credible manners.

According to the Article 141 A of the bill, general elections will be held (a) in case of dissolution of parliament by reason of expiration of its term, inside 90 days preceding such dissolution and (b) in the case of dissolution otherwise, polls will be held in 90 days after such dissolution.

Committee sources said that a new clause would be inserted with a provision avoiding parliament session during the election time.

Members of the committee viewed that if parliament did not function at the election time, there would be no major differences between

the power of the leader of the house and the opposition leader and it would help hold the polls in a credible manner.

Sources also said that the bill might be returned to the house for passage on June 29, if the opposition remained absent. But the time could be extended if the opposition came.

The committee members said that they would try to involve the opposition in the process even at the final stage and the prime minister also wanted to involve the opposition.

Sources said that BNP lawmaker Salauddin Qader Chowdhury could be paroled if he was willing to attend the house to discuss the issue.

'We have finalised the recommendations in the 27 meetings of the special committee on constitution amendment and the bill was prepared in the line with the recommendations. So there will be no more major changes in the bill,' committee member Rahmat Ali told New Age, adding that the standing committee would not take much time to finalise the bill.

The law minister placed the bill in parliament on June 25 and it was sent to the standing committee giving it two weeks for scrutiny.

Source : New Age

ACC appoints enquiry officer

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday appointed its assistant director, Shahidur Rahman, as 'enquiry officer' to look into the allegation against former state minister for energy, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, of taking bribe from Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd.

The ACC took the decision in line with the verdict of a Canadian court on June 24 that had fined the company nearly $9.5 million for bribing the state minister in order to be exempted from giving compensation for the damage caused by the explosion that took place in the Tengratila gas-field in Sylhet in 2005.

ACC's chairman Ghulam Rahman told New Age, 'The inquiry officer has been asked to submit a report in this regard within 30 working days.'

Canadian daily Globe and Mail reported that Justice Scott Brooker, of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, said that bribery 'was an embarrassment to all Canadians' and 'a dark stain on Calgary's reputation' when

he passed the sentence.

The report said that for several years a team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had been probing Niko's activities after the arrest of some Bangladeshi politicians on corruption charges by the military-backed interim government.

According to a report published on June 24 by the Globe and Mail, the company agreed to buy a big car for AKM Mosharraf Hossain and pay the expenses of his trips to Canada and the United States.

Mosharraf resigned in June 2005 after the media in Bangladesh revealed that Niko had given him a Toyota Land Cruiser Signus 2005.

'We will proceed with the inquiry, using the Canadian court's verdict as a clue,' said Shahidur Rahman, who also investigated part of the Niko case against former premier Khaleda Zia, former law minister Moudud Ahmed and former state minister Mosharraf Hossain, the then acting energy secretary Khandakar Shahidul Islam and Quashem Sharif of Niko for causing a loss of Tk 10,000 crore to the country.

The ACC on 9 December, 2007 sued the two former prime ministers, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, who were then under detention, for alleged corruption in signing contracts with Niko by showing a productive gas-field as 'marginal', which caused the state to incur Tk 23,630.50 crore in losses.

Three former ministers, five retired bureaucrats and a Niko official were also accused.

Hasina was implicated in the case filed by ACC's deputy director MM Shabbir Hasan with the Tejgaon police for causing a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore.

Her chief secretary SA Samad, former state minister for energy Rafiqul Islam, former energy secretaries Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury and M Akmal Hossain, the then Petrobangla chairman Mosharraf Hossain and Niko's South Asia vice-president Quashem Sharif were also accused of the same charges.

The High Court on 11 March, 2010 quashed the charges against Hasina, and the cases against all the others were earlier stayed by the court.

Source : New Age

Police beat up oil-gas body men, detain two

The police on Monday beat up activists of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports and detained two of them when they tried to bring out a procession in the capital.

Before trying to bring out the procession from Mohammadpur Town Hall, the committee held at rally as part of their programme to drum up support for half-day hartal on July 3.

A press release of Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal claimed that during the action, the police also detained two activists of the

committee which is protesting against a deal with US company ConocoPhillips for exploring and exporting gas against the national interest.

The arrested are CPB Dhaka unit general secretary Ahsan Habib Lavlu and member Nimai Ganguly while those who were injured during the police action include Monzur Hossain, Moyenuddin and Mahfuz.

The police took away the banner and placards from the protestors and charged batons to disperse them, the release added.

The lawmen also charged batons and snatched away banners and leaflets from the committee activists during another peaceful demonstration at Khilgaon in the capital, the BSD release claimed.

The committee also accused Chhatra League activists of hindering their programme and snatching away leaflets during demonstration at Dhaka College on Monday.

Source : New Age

Govt draws fire from allies

The government is facing protest from its allies against the deal signed with US oil giant ConocoPhillips.

At least three political parties with considerable representation in the Jatiya Sangsad, all of them components of the Awami League-led alliance, have been criticising the deal as it would go against the nation's interests and endanger its energy security.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president and lawmaker Hasanul Haq Inu from a roundtable on energy security of Bangladesh on Monday urged the government to scrap the deal, which has a provision that will encourage ConocoPhillips to export 80 per cent of the gas it will extract from hydrocarbon blocks 10 and 11 in the form of liquefied natural gas.

'Otherwise, the power-starved people of the country will start a massive movement against it,' he warned.

Inu said Bangladesh is suffering from severe energy shortage and it is not acceptable to sign any deal that gives the contractor the scope to export the country's mineral resources.

Pointing at the Niko deal and other one-sided contracts made in the country's energy sector, lawmaker Amena Ahmad termed such contracts 'anti-state'.

In the same roundtable, Bangladesh Workers Party president and lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon said the government would not be allowed to export oil, gas, and other mineral resources from the country.

Menon along with other political leaders in the grand alliance urged the government to enact the Mineral Resources Export Prohibition Act 2010 that has already been placed as a bill in the parliament.

He said the bill which he placed in the parliament last year was nothing but a reflection of Sheikh Hasina's stance in 1998 in response to the suggestion of gas export from the Bibiyana field made on the premise that the country was supposedly floating on oil and gas.

Criticising the contract with the US company, Menon said in the Jatiya Sangsad on Saturday that the present prime minister once had opposed any export of gas and said no gas would be allowed to be exported without keeping an adequate reserve for the country for the next 50 years but now her own government has signed a deal which contains the provision for gas export by a foreign company.

Menon demanded that the government should make the production-sharing contract signed with ConocoPhillips public.

Menon also demanded open discussion in the parliament on the deal and said it is not acceptable that only some government officials and advisers should know the details of the deal while the people, who are the owners of the country's resources, are kept in the dark.

Reminding his fellow MPs that a minister of the BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance government was bribed by Canadian company Niko, he said, 'It is not unlikely that such corruption will be unearthed in the future in connection with the ConocoPhillips deal.'

The Workers Party president lambasted a state minister for terming a leader of the oil-gas protection committee a 'foreign agent' and said people know it very well who the real foreign agents are.

'Who are the foreign agents? The people who want to protect our gas or those who are giving away our gas to a foreign company,' he questioned.

State minister for environment and forest Hasan Mahmud digressing from the budget discussion in the Jatiya Sangsad railed against Anu Mohammad, an economist and member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port, calling him 'Monu Mohammad'.

The state minister called the national committee a 'foreign agent and spy' which wants to stay in the limelight by making an issue out of the contract signed with ConocoPhillips, which, the committee points out, gives only 20 per cent of the extracted gas to Bangladesh and allows the company to export the rest. This contract, said Anu Muhammad, would benefit only the US company, not the country.

Hasan Mahmud also said in the parliament that a professor of economics has no right to speak on oil and gas as he has no knowledge about mineral resources.

The government on June 16 signed the PSC with ConocoPhillips for oil and gas exploration and extraction in deep sea hydrocarbon blocks 10 and 11 amid protests from experts, civic forums, and political organisations.

Source : New Age