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The national coordination committee on corruption and serious crimes will meet in its office in the army headquarters today to finalise the list of corruption suspects while the Anti-Corruption Commission on Wednesday notified the 10 suspects to submit their wealth statements.
   The 10 suspects notified to submit wealth statements on the day were named on the lists made public earlier. The last three of the suspects named on the earlier lists will be notified today, said the commission secretary.
   The final list, being prepared by the anti-graft committee ‘based on the gravity of corruption’ is likely to include about 60 more names. One hundred and forty-two high-profile corruption suspects were named on three lists made public earlier.
   ‘We will hold a meeting tomorrow to review the progress in the investigation of corruption allegations,’ the communications adviser, MA Matin, also chairman of the high-powered national coordination committee, told reporters in his office on Wednesday.
   He said a fresh list of corruption suspects was under way. ‘The final list will be announced in a couple of days.’
   The committee will take up a total of about 200 graft cases for investigation, the committee chairman said.
   The task forces, working under the committee since March, will wind up the anti-graft drives by end-September, apparently in the face of economic stagnation.
   Business leaders at a government-sponsored dialogue early September alleged that the wholesale hunt for corruption suspects and the drives against black money-holders and tax dodgers by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the National Board of Revenue had panicked them.
   The interim government on March 8 formed the national coordination committee, involving senior army officers, to carry out the drives against corruption and serious crimes across the country with retrospective effect from February 4.
   The principal staff officer of the Armed Forces Division, Lieutenant General Masud Uddin Chowdhury, is the chief coordinator of the national committee.
   ‘The task forces will wind up the drives against corruption this month as we want to complete inquiries into the graft cases by end-2008,’ Matin told reporters at the secretariat on Monday.
   ‘Another list of about 60 corruption suspects will be announced by this month in addition to 142 the committee has already named on three previous lists,’ he said
   The army-led task forces, involving investigation officers of the Anti-Corruption Commission, earlier started looking into the allegations of high-profile corruption against around 100 people, mostly politicians.
   Around 100 people, including top politicians and businessmen, have so far been arrested on corruption charges. Forty-one task forces are now investigating the allegations of corruption against former ministers, lawmakers and businessmen.
   The commission on Wednesday notified 10 more corruption suspects, including Jatiya Party faction chairman, two former BNP lawmakers and a former Awami League lawmaker, asking them to submit their wealth statements in seven working days.
   With the notification, the commission has asked wealth statements from 138 suspects, out of the total 142, named on the lists prepared by the national coordination committee on corruption and serious crimes in five phases since January 12, the commission secretary, Mokhles ur Rahman, told reporters in a news briefing.
   The commission could not notify CBA leader Kazi Mosharraf Hossain of Kushtia, as the matter related to him is pending with the High Court.
   The commission is likely to decide at a meeting today on notifying three others — Chhatra League president Liakat Sikdar, and Mohammad Jewel and Nazim Uddin, Mokhles said.
   As for final list of about 60 suspects as announced by the coordination committee chairman, the commission secretary said, ‘We still have time to get the list as the deadline for September is yet to expire.’
   The national coordination committee early January first announced the names of 50 corruption suspects, including politicians, businessman and CBA leaders.
   Some of them were arrested by the joint forces when they went to the commission to submit their wealth statements by February 25.
   The corruption suspects notified by the commission on Wednesday are Jatiya Party faction chairman Naziur Rahman Manju, former BNP lawmakers Alamgir M Mahfuz Ullah Farid of Cox’s Bazar and Majibur Rahman Manju of Kishoreganj, Awami League lawmaker Atiur Rahman Atiq of Sherpur, Dipu Chowdhury, son of Awami League lawmaker Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, land ministry protocol officer Kutub Uddin Ahmed, Khagrachari Awami League secretary Zahidul Alam, Swadesh Property owner Hadayet Ullah, Mokhlesur Rahman of Dinajpur, and Shahadat Akbar Chowdhury, son of Golam Akbar Chowdhury.
   The commission believes the suspects own assets beyond their known sources of income, according to the notices issued on Wednesday.
   The commission asked the suspects to submit their wealth statements, detailing bank accounts and assets owned by them and their family members, within seven working days from the time of receiving the notices.
   They will need to submit the statements in three-section prescribed forms attached to the notices.
   In the form, they will need to provide information such as location of their immoveable property, holding numbers, measurements, value, purchase dates and sources of the money spent on buying the assets.
   The information will need to be detailed separately for moveable and immoveable property. The suspects will also need to list their liabilities.

The BNP’s senior joint secretary general, Tarique Rahman, also younger son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, his wife and mother-in-law were sued on Wednesday for owning wealth not declared and hiding facts in his wealth statement submitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   The commission’s deputy director Zahirul Huda filed the first information report with the Kafrul police saying the commission would take necessary steps regarding the investigation of the case.
   In the first-ever graft case against him, Tarique was alleged to have concealed information on his wealth of Tk 4,23,08,561 in the statement submitted to the commission on June 7 through the jail authorities and to have acquired wealth of Tk 4,81,53,561 beyond his known sources of income.
   Tarique’s wife, Zobaida Rahman, and mother-in-law, Syeda Iqbalmand Banu, were alleged to have abetted him in the offence.
   Tarique, arrested on March 8 in a Tk 1 crore extortion case, is now detained in jail. His wife and mother-in-law are at large.
   Asked whether Zobaida and Iqbalmand could be arrested, a commission official on Wednesday told New Age, ‘The case has been filed. An investigation officer will now be appointed and he will decide whether to see court’s permission for their arrest in the course of the investigation.’
   The commission on May 29 asked Tarique to submit his wealth statements and he submitted the statement on June 7 through the jail authorities showing that he owned wealth of Tk 1,37,15,396.
   Zahirul Huda on July 25 submitted a report to the commission after an inquiry into the wealth of Tarique.
   After filing the case on Wednesday, he told reporters that he had found Tarique to have owned more wealth, including fixed deposit receipts of Tk 35 lakh with banks in his wife’s name.
   Although Tarique showed his wealth to amount to Tk 1,37,15,396 in the statement, an inquiry found wealth of Tk 58,45,000 more beyond his known sources of income, according to the first information report.
   In the drive against high-profile corruption suspects, initiated after the declaration of the sate of emergency on January 11, the commission has so far notified 138 people, including politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats, asking for their wealth statements.
   The commission has so far filed 70 cases against 70 suspects and their close relations on charge of concealing facts in wealth statements and owning wealth beyond known sources of income.
   The trial of 12 of the cases has so far been completed. The special anti-graft courts have so far convicted 17 people.
   Twelve of the convicts, who were the principal accused, including former state ministers Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Amanullah Aman and Mir Nasiruddin, were sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment.
   The courts have also ordered confiscation of their wealth of the amount they concealed in the wealth statements.
   Others charged with abetment in the offences were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
   Khaleda, also the BNP chairperson, and Tarique’s brother Arafat Rahman were arrested on September 3.

Bangladesh was ranked as the seventh most corrupt nation this year, but the corruption situation in the country has remained unchanged, according to the annual report of Transparency International released on Wednesday.
   The Berlin-based international anti-corruption watchdog released its Corruption Perception Index for 2007, which covers 180 countries, in which Bangladesh scored 2 points and was placed seventh along with five other countries.
   In 2006 Bangladesh scored the same 2 points and was ranked number three, but this year its rank has improved, mainly due to inclusion of new countries. Many countries got lower scores than Bangladesh.
   ‘Ranking is not an important issue, but the score is. Since Bangladesh’s score has remained the same it means the corruption situation has also remained unchanged,’ observed Professor Mozaffar Ahmed, chairman of the TIB’s board of trustees.
   Bangladesh was placed at the bottom of the index for the fifth successive year from 2001, and was getting scores below 2.
   The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts. It ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.
   ‘While many low scoring countries scored even less and even the high-ranking nations received lower scores in 2007, Bangladesh’s score has remained steady at 2,’ said the report, which was prepared by using the corruption-related surveys carried out by 14 independent institutions, including the World Bank and World Economic Forum.
   ‘A score that is less than 3 means that Bangladesh continues to be a country where corruption is perceived to be high and widespread,’ says the report.
   The five other countries that were ranked seventh are Cambodia, Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
   This year Somalia and Myanmar have been ranked as the most corrupt nations, followed by Iraq and Haiti in the second and third positions respectively. Uzbekistan and Tango were jointly ranked fifth while the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Laos and Guinea were ranked sixth.
   Countries where corruption is perceived to be lowest are Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, all sharing the top position by scoring 9.4, followed by highest ranking Asian country, Singapore, which scored 9.3 along with Sweden.
   Excepting the Netherlands, Sweden and Canada, the index shows that most of high-ranking countries scored lower this year compared to 2006.
   The executive director of the TIB, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, explaining the overall corruption situation, said rampant corruption was a problem throughout the world, not only in Bangladesh.
   This year, he said, the intensity of corruption was higher in the developed countries than the developing ones. ‘The developed countries are responsible for corruption in the poor countries.’
   He stressed the need for a joint effort by both the developed and developing countries to fight corruption effectively.
   Mozaffar Ahmed said Bangladesh may take another 10 to 11 years to score 3, which is an acceptable level of corruption.
   ‘We took 11 years to raise our score to 2 from 1.2, and will need a similar period to score 3 if the government’s anti-corruption drive is sustained,’ he observed, saying the way poverty and corruption are being fought, the score of the country will be increased quickly.
   When he was asked why Bangladesh’s score has remained the same in spite of the interim government’s anti-corruption drive, he said the result of the drive was not fully reflected in the index. The good result of the drive may be reflected in next year’s index, he added.
   Indicating the strife-wracked states like Iraq and Afghanistan, Mozaffar said corruption is rampant in unstable countries and those which do not have pro-people governments.
   About the improvement of Bangladesh’s ranking despite the same score, the report says the index gives a 2-year rolling average and data collected until July 2007 was included in this year’s index. It also said that the perceived insecurity and uncertainty prevailing in the business community due to the anti-corruption drive may have prevented the possibility of a better score.
   The TIB’s trustee, M Hafizuddin Ahmed, was also present when the report was released at the National Press Club.

Leading economists of the country have rejected Bangladesh’s rank in the Transparency International’s corruption perception index, saying that the report has not included the broader perspective of corruption so it cannot depict a realistic picture.
   When their attention was drawn to country’s slight elevation in position in 2007, the economists said Bangladesh was treated unjustly since at least 90 per cent of the people are not at all involved with corruption.
   ‘There is no reason to be complacent about the improvement in our position. I question the very methodology followed by Transparency International in judging the corruption of the country’s elite,’ said Abul Barakat, economics professor of Dhaka University, in his reaction to the corruption perception report released on Wednesday.
   When he was asked if the anti-corruption drive by the interim government has played any role in improving Bangladesh’s position, he said the corrupt elements in society, amounting to around 10 per cent, had now gone into hibernation. ‘Corruption is embedded in the system, which remains the same.’
   Economist Hossain Zillur Rahman termed this a ‘mere perception’ and attributed the change in Bangladesh’s position to the changes in perception that had taken place in the last 7-8 months.
   ‘This method cannot measure institutional corruption. It is more important to look into the causes of corruption, to look at whole perspective,’ said Zillur, the executive chairman of the Power and Participation Research Centre. He also regretted that Bangladesh is the only country where a ‘hue and cry’ is being raised about the findings of such a report that is based on perception only.
   Atiur Rahman, another economist, observed that Bangladesh’s position might improve further if the ranking is done after completion of at least one of the anti-corruption drives. He, however, stressed the need for striking a balance between the anti-corruption drive and economic activities so that commoners do no suffer.
   ‘We want to throw away dirty water, not the pot itself. So we have to be careful in dealing with corruption,’ he said, underlining the need for strengthening institutions such as the Anti-Corruption Commission. ‘Otherwise, the anti-corruption drive cannot be sustained in the long run.’
   Abdul Barakat pointed out that if all factors relating to corruption were taken into consideration in comparison to other countries, Bangladesh’s position would have been better in the index.

Multinational companies and financial institutions that use bribery and tolerate illicitly gained wealth are helping fuel corruption in the world’s poorest countries, a global corruption watchdog said on Wednesday.
   Berlin-based Transparency International said in its latest corruption perceptions report that while poorer countries should tackle their own graft problems, richer states are also responsible, and often to blame.
   ‘Bribe money often stems from multinationals based in the world’s richest countries. It can no longer be acceptable for these companies to regard bribery in export markets as a legitimate business strategy,’ the report said.
   The survey, compiled from surveys covering 180 countries and territories, ranked them according to perceived levels of corruption among public officials and politicians.
   Somalia and Myanmar shared the lowest score of 1.4. At the other end were Denmark, Finland and New Zealand, prized for fair judiciaries and transparent public finances, with 9.4.
   Global financial centres play a central role in allowing corrupt officials hide and invest funds, TI said, citing the example of Nigeria and the Philippines, where officials looted millions of dollars.
   ‘Criticism by rich countries of corruption in poor ones has little credibility while their financial institutions sit on wealth stolen from the world’s poorest people,’ Akere Muna, TI vice chair, said.
   Forty per cent of countries scoring below three, which indicates corruption is perceived as rampant, are classified by the World Bank as low income countries, TI said.
   ‘Corruption manufactures poverty, it seeds violence and it destabilises countries dramatically.’
   The report said significant progress had been made in some African countries including Namibia, Swaziland and 2010 World Cup host South Africa, thanks to genuine anti-corruption efforts and political reform.
   The European Union accession process has also helped countries like Romania tackle corruption, TI said.

The government has decided to form a 14-member taskforce to re-fix the allowable system loss of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation as it has estimated that fuel, worth about Tk 100 crore, is being pilfered every year during transportation in the name of system loss.
   An meeting of the energy division took the decision last week to form the taskforce, headed by BPC’s joint secretary Taherul Islam, and comprising representatives of the BUET, army, navy, air force, police, BDR, coast guard, RAB, Padma, Jamuna and Meghna oil companies and the BPC.
   Sources in the division said that the existing allowable system loss during transportation of diesel and kerosene from Chittagong to the oil depots at Narayanganj and Khulna is 0.2 per cent, and of petrol and octane 0.35 per cent.
   The BPC annually markets around 23-24 lakh tonnes of diesel, 5-6 lakh tonnes of kerosene, 1.5 lakh tonnes of octane and around 1.5 lakh tonnes of petrol. It imports fuel oils worth $2.5 billion a year.
   ‘The BPC fixed the allowable system loss after considering the loss of fuel while being transported by river and by road and because of loss of fuel due to differences in temperature,’ said a source.
   Inside sources said that the existing allowable system loss was too high as the system loss during transportation and for temperature difference should be much lower.
   They said that fuel oils were being pilfered during transportation by taking advantage of higher allowable system loss.
   ‘In many cases, the managers or owners of tankers sell fuel oils by stopping the vessel in mid-river and say that the fuel oils are being lost because of system loss, while in other cases the persons in charge of the depots purchase the pilfered fuel oils and sell them to tank-lorry drivers. The drivers sell the fuel oils to roadside fuel oil sellers,’ observed one of the sources.
   The energy division’s meeting observed that BPC would save around Tk 100 crore if the pilferage could be stopped.
   The BPC’ loss would decrease and the increase in fuel oil prices would also be eased somewhat if this pilferage could be stopped, it observed.
   Sources in the division said that the committee would try to find out the real reasons for system loss and would recommend a new allowable amount of system loss based on their research.
   They said that the taskforce would start working after the defence forces provide the names of their representatives.

The government has revived a project to build an underground railway network in the capital in the private sector and tasked the Board of Investment with implementing the project.
   ‘Construction of the tube to mitigate traffic congestion in the capital is long overdue,’ communications adviser MA Matin told reporters Wednesday fresh from a presentation on the proposed metro system made by Contech Limited, a local firm which had earlier been recommended by the ministry for building a 52 kilometre tube in the city at a cost of around Tk 6,200 crore on a ‘built-own-operate’ basis.
   The adviser said a study would be conducted before taking any conclusive decision on such a huge project as the government was also considering other transport infrastructure projects for the city including elevated expressways. ‘We will form a committee to carry out the study.’
   Matin expects the construction of the tube would start during the tenure of this interim government.
   There is a provision for constructing an underground railway also in the Strategic Transport Planning for Dhaka which is yet to be approved by the government.
   Communications secretary Mahbubur Rahman said the BoI would deal with the project as it would be implemented entirely with private sector investment.
   Contech will be eligible to take part in the next round of bidding as a pre-qualified bidder.
   Its managing director Masud Mia in his presentation on the project said it would take four years to construct the metro and a kilometre of the track would cost around Tk 120 crore.
   He said, according to the project design, the tube would have six routes with double lines touching all the busy and strategic city points with Tongi, Sayedabad, Gabtali, Mohakhali, Farmgate, New Market, and Sadarghat as some of the important junctions. ‘The network will connect all the entry and exit points of the city.’
   The tube fare will be competitive with the bus fare and range between Tk 5 and Tk 25, Masud said, adding that the system would run on electricity generated by the contracted firm.
   The Contech MD said the planned metro would have the capacity to carry more than 60,000 passengers at a speed up to 60km per hour. ‘Initially it will be able to carry 10 lakh passengers a day; but gradually this capacity will be increased to more than 40 lakh passengers,’ he projected.
   The ministry in June selected Contech as it was the lowest bidder in the pre-qualification tender floated by the Bangladesh Railway in 2002. Only two firms took part in the bidding.
   Contech offered to build the tube on a BOT basis at a cost of Tk 6,200 crore in four years and to hand it over to the government 34 years after the construction as it sought a 30-year concession time to recover its investment.

At least four people were killed and 100 injured Wednesday as Myanmar’s security forces clamped down on anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks, according to officials and witnesses.
   About 200 people were also arrested, as many as half of them Buddhist monks, as soldiers and police cracked down on tens of thousands of protesters who swept across Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon, according to witnesses and diplomats.
   Myanmar officials said at least three monks were killed, including one who was shot as he tried to wrestle a gun away from a soldier. Two other monks were beaten to death, they said.
   A fourth person, who was not a monk, was dead on arrival at Yangon General Hospital with gunshot wounds, a hospital source said.
   At least 100 others were injured, about half of them monks, according to a tally of witness accounts received from across Yangon.
   About 200 people were arrested, according to witnesses. One western diplomat said that at least 100 Buddhist monks were among the arrests.
   Monks have lead nine straight days of anti-government protests in Yangon and other cities around the country, but Wednesday was the first day that security forces tried to violently break up the crowds.
   Meanwhile, world governments Wednesday warned Myanmar’s military rulers they would be held to account for blood spilled in cracking down on mass street protests, with the European Union threatening tougher sanctions.
   But there were divisions over the effectiveness of punitive measures with China refusing to put overt pressure on its neighbour and close ally, and even Australia saying it will not order new action.
   The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting and the immediate despatch of a UN envoy to the country still widely known as Burma.
   Rights groups called on the UN Security Council to impose its own arms embargo and to stop China and India providing weapons to the junta, while the European Union threatened to ‘reinforce and strengthen’ an existing sanctions regime.
   Spain urged ‘maximum restraint’ from Myanmar authorities, with the foreign ministry warning in a statement that any extended crackdown ‘could have very serious consequences’.
   France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy was to meet exiled Myanmar activists on Wednesday and Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the junior minister for European affairs, called the military crackdown ‘unacceptable’.
   Experts said any new sanctions would have to be swiftly followed by vigorous international diplomacy to press the junta to bow to unprecedented public demands for freedom.
   Singapore, which chairs the regional ASEAN bloc, said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by the reports of clashes with the protestors and called for ‘utmost restraint’.
   Australia’s foreign minister Alexander Downer said his country would not follow the US move in imposing economic sanctions because they ‘would have absolutely no impact.’
   China and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution in January urging Myanmar’s rulers to free all political detainees.
   Amnesty International said the UN Security Council must send a mission to Myanmar to head off violence.
   Human Rights Watch called on Myanmar’s allies, including China, Thailand, Russia and India, to urge the regime to address the non-violent protests.
   Japan, a leading donor to Myanmar, was pressing the junta to ‘take a calm response’ to the protests, foreign minister Masahiko Komura said Wednesday, promising only to ‘carefully monitor developments’.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, attended a reception hosted by the US president, George W Bush, in New York Tuesday evening and exchanged pleasantries.
   The US president and Mrs Laura Bush hosted the reception at Starlight Roof of Waldorf Astoria Hotel in honour of heads of the states and government and head of the delegations attending the 62nd UNGA session.
   Fakhruddin and Bush exchanged pleasantries during the reception. His wife Neena Ahmed accompanied the chief adviser at the reception.
   Later, the chief adviser attended a state dinner hosted by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.
   The secretary general hosted the dinner at the UN Building in honour of heads of the state and government who are attending the UNGA session.
   Fakhruddin exchanged pleasantries with a number of heads of state and government at the dinner.
   The US president and the UN secretary general addressed the dinner.

Five officials of the postal department were arrested and sent to jail on Wednesday for allegedly embezzling Tk 42 lakh collected as motor vehicles tax.
   The five, Badal Kumar Nandy, Sufia Begum, Abu Siddiq Miji, Farid Ahmed Patwary and Wahed Khan, were in the Shantinagar sub-post office, which did not deposit the tax money, realised between 2003 and 2005, with the exchequer.
   Detecting the incident, Abu Bakr of the anti-corruption commission, filed a case with Ramna police on January 21.
   On Wednesday, the investigation officer of the case, Monaem Hossain, also an assistant director of the commission, summoned the five to the commission headquarters for questioning.
   As they failed to make any satisfactory reply to the queries, the commission official handed them over to the Ramna police showing them arrested in the case.
   The police took them to the chief metropolitan magistrate court, which sent them to jail.

A group of workers vandalised an apparel factory and at least five cars demanding increases in wage, food allowances and
   festival allowance.
   Factory sources said production at the Shyamoli Garments Factory, a joint venture of Bangladesh and Hong Kong entrepreneurs at Salna of Gazipur sadar upazial, began as usual at 7:00 am Wednesday.
   But workers suddenly enforced a strike and started agitating inside the factory as their talks with the factory officials over their demands failed.
   Officer-in-charge of Joydevpur police Mizanur Rahman brokered a negotiation and factory director Golam Rabbani announced 50 per cent increase in Eid bonus around noon.
   But the announcement failed to cool the anger of the workers, who started demonstration and at one stage, ransacked furniture and glass of the factory offices.
   They also damaged two collapsible gates and five cars parked inside.
   The camera of Lutfur Rahman, Gazipur correspondent of Focus Bangla, was also snatched.
   Members of the army, Rapid Action Battalion and police reached the spot and brought the situation under control.
   In the afternoon, a meeting was held amicably between the workers and the factory authority, mediated by law enforcers and local administration.

A teacher of North South University was killed allegedly by druggers near Monolova Kebab House in the city’s Banani area Tuesday night.
   The victim was identified as Dewan Rahat Karim, 34, a lecturer of BBA and accounting department of North South University Banani Branch, and son of Abdul Matin, of 11/B, Nayeem Road in Dhanmondi.
   The family members said Rahat went missing after he went out of their residence at around 5:00pm.
   The Gulshan police found Rahat in an unconscious state near the kebab house on Staff Road in Banani at around 9:30pm and immediately took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared him dead at around 10:30pm.
   The police suspected that the gang members strangled the teacher and dropped the body at the place. They also found multiple marks of injuries on all over the body.
   The police quoting a female pedestrian said that a gang of criminals dropped the body on the footpath from a white-coloured microbus. The gang members also attacked the woman and snatched away her mobile phone before fleeing the scene. As she cried for help, local people immediately rushed to the spot and found Rahat in an unconscious state.
   Victim’s mother Nazma Matin told newsmen at the hospital that the criminals carried out the killing in a planned way. She questioned why they killed her innocent son.
   The North South University authority condemned the killing and demanded exemplary punishment for the killers.
   In a statement, they also expressed concern over the deterioration of law and order situation in Banani and its adjoining areas as such kinds of incidents often took place in the area.
   As a number of teachers, students and employees of the university was robbed and assaulted by criminals, the law enforcing agencies should take immediate steps to combat such crimes, the statement added.

The Bangladesh Bank in a circular on Tuesday instructed all banks and financial institutions to be extra vigilant in opening or maintaining accounts of politically exposed persons, their family members or associates.
   The circular was issued in compliance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Financial Action Taskforce rules.
   The convention defines the PEPs as those ‘Entrusted with prominent public functions in a foreign country, for example heads of state or of government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executives of state-owned corporations, important political party officials’ etc.
   It also warns that ‘Business relationships with family members or close associates of PEPs involve reputation risks similar to those with PEPs themselves.’ So, PEPs and those related or associated with them are required to reveal their sources of income when opening bank accounts in countries that are signatories to the convention.
   Bangladesh ratified the UN convention in February 2007, which enables it to seek international assistance in recovering assets siphoned from the country.
   Bangladeshi PEPs are subject to similar restrictions in other countries that are signatories to the UNCAC, under which the British Department for International Development and the World Bank are now helping Bangladesh retrieve money earned illegally and stored overseas.
   The BB circular instructed the banks and financial institutions to maintain a risk management system to identify PEPs and to verify their sources of income and funds.
   If a bank or financial institution wants to do business with any PEP, it must take consent of its higher authorities and keep the business relation under constant monitoring, the central bank said.

The interim administration has initiated a move to offer dearness allowance to the government staff to compensate for the price spiral of essential commodities and high inflation in recent times.
   A committee, formed early this month and tasked with setting the DA, will hold its second meeting today.
   The committee, led by additional secretary of the Finance Division Mahabubur Rahman, is likely to recommend 10 to 20 per cent dearness allowance, official sources said.
   Earlier in 2004, the Sixth Pay Commission headed by former cabinet secretary Mujibul Haque, revised the pay structure of government servants and the new pay structure recommended by the commission came into effect from January 2005.

The BNP chairperson’s adviser, ASM Hannan Shah, on Wednesday claimed that Khaleda Zia had played no role in the GATCO corruption case as the prime minister does not have the power to disregard or change the cabinet committee’s decision.
   ‘Khaleda Zia did not even see the approval letter of GATCO tender, and the prime minister does not have power of approving any purchase proposal rejected by the cabinet committee, and that is exactly what happened in this case,’ Hannan told reporters at his house in Mohakhali DOHS.
   ‘The government purchase committee functions according to a prescribed system and if there is any violation of any rule, the person concerned should be accountable,’ Hannan added. ‘If any irregularities occurred in the case, the ministry concerned should look into matter first.’
   Hannan said that he smelled a rat in the procedure of the case as some people, blessed by certain quarters, want to blame Khaleda for the alleged corruption that took place in this case.
   He also denounced the arrest of Khaleda when investigation of the case was continuing, and demanded immediate release of two former prime ministers and other political leaders detained without any specific charges.
   Hannan was also critical of the Election Commission’s remarks on political parties. ‘The Election Commission should comment on the political parties after acquiring enough knowledge about them. The issue of reform is the internal concern of the parties…It is not the agendum of the commission.’
   ‘We too want to bring changes within the party, but it will be under the direction of the chairperson,’ he said.
   Hannan said Mannan Bhuiyan was not a reformist, rather he was serving a particular quarter.

Six Bangladeshi workers were killed and two others seriously injured Wednesday when their minibus collided head-on with a truck, a security source said.
   The source said the accident took place on the seventh ring road, some 25 kilometres south of Kuwait City.
   Around 200,000 Bangla-deshis work in oil-rich Kuwait, mostly as domestic helpers and in other unskilled jobs.

The Election Commission on Wednesday approved the draft of its new service rules for election officials, which make their jobs transferable, as part of the electoral reform programmes.
   The EC, at a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda in the chair, approved the draft and decided to send it to the Ministry of Law for being vetted. After the vetting it will be sent to the Public Service Commission and Ministry of Establishment for completing other formalities.
   ‘The draft has a provision that any official can be posted to the EC secretariat or field offices and the appointments will be transferable,’ said the secretary to the EC secretariat, Humayun Kabir, at a press briefing on Wednesday.
   He explained that there would be change only in the designation, not in the rank, of any official who is transferred to the secretariat from a field office or to a field office from the secretariat.
   According to the previous Election Commission (Officers and Staff) Rules 1979, the services of the election officials posted in the EC secretariat are not transferable while the filed-level officials have no chance of being transferred to the EC secretariat.
   The re-constituted EC initiated the move to change the service rules in March to facilitate transfers between the secretariat and field offices stretching up to the upazila level.
   The field-level election officials believe that the previous service rules prevent the central EC officials from acquiring the field-level experience which is crucial for ensuring fair polls. It also discriminates against the field-level officials as it bars them from joining the EC secretariat.
   The step, however, has not made everybody in the EC office happy. An official at the EC secretariat said that he had opted for the job to stay in Dhaka and had been selected for the job through a competitive examination that is tougher than the one for the field-level posts.
   ‘If the commission makes our job transferable with the filed-level officials, it will be unfair to us,’ said the official, echoing the sentiment of many of his colleagues at the EC secretariat.
   The recruitment process and examination for jobs at the EC secretariat and field offices are not the same, said another official.
   Some referred to the recent allegations of politically motivated recruitment.
   Field-level officials, on the other hand, find the previous service rules discriminatory as they force them to languish in the same ranks for years and bar them from a job in the headquarters.
   The proposal for amending the service rules to streamline the EC secretariat was made 12 years ago, but was shelved due to reported interference by some top officials and reluctance of the successive governments.
   A three-member committee was formed in April 1994 to scrutinise the service rules in response to the demands made by the field-level officials of the EC. They alleged that the successive governments had opted to keep the 1979 service rules unchanged in order to interfere with the recruitment and promotion of the EC officials.
   The committee drafted an amendment proposal, which the EC sent to the establishment ministry in April 1998.
   After examination and modifications by different ministries, the draft was finally approved by the Public Service Commission and the law ministry. On October 17 in 2002 it was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office, which was supposed to forward it to the president for approval.
   But some influential quarters in the EC managed to bring it back and put it on ice until the reconstituted EC took the fresh initiative recently.

Nepal’s Maoists have accused the country’s armed forces of plotting a coup aimed at preventing the abolition of the embattled Himalayan monarchy.
   In an interview with AFP, the second-in-command of the former rebels – who want to see the monarchy dissolved – said an attempted army takeover could happen soon unless the country is immediately declared a republic.
   ‘There is a definite chance of a coup. We have reliable information. A section of the army – we won’t say all the army, but a selection of top generals loyal to the monarchy – seem to be plotting,’ said Maoist number two Baburam Bhattarai.
   ‘If we don’t act boldly in time, they will take action,’ said Bhattarai, who was guarded at all times by stony-faced armed men.
   He was justifying Maoist demands that Nepal be declared a republic now – and not after a democratic vote on the matter as agreed to in last November’s peace accord between the ex-rebels and mainstream parties.
   Bhattarai said their partners in the peace accord were ‘dragging their feet’ on implementing key reforms aimed at keeping King Gyanendra and the army out of politics, giving the ‘regressive feudal forces’ time to regroup.
   Under the November 2006 deal, the Maoists agreed to formally end their decade-long ‘People’s War’ – a conflict that claimed at least 13,000 lives – and confine their weapons and fighters to UN-supervised camps.
   The Nepal Army, a bastion of the elite and pro-royals, have also been confined to barracks.
   But last week, the Maoists walked out of an interim coalition government and vowed to launch street protests to disrupt elections scheduled for November 22 that will decide if Gyanendra and his heirs have a future.
   The ultra-leftists have come in for stiff international criticism for endangering the peace process here, with some analysts saying they are merely afraid of losing a popular vote.
   But Bhattarai said ‘the experience of revolutionary change elsewhere is that unless you restructure and democratise the army, there is a chance of a coup and the old set-up returning.’
   The Maoist number two, an ideologue prone to drifting into lengthy discourses on Marxist-Leninist-Maoist semantics, asserted that his party was nevertheless ‘sticking by the ceasefire and peace accord.’
   ‘We are not going back to war,’ said the 53-year-old, who was speaking at a dark, dank hotel used as the movement’s Kathmandu headquarters.
   ‘We want change peacefully but we want change. We want to get rid of feudalism, monarchy and absolutism.’
   Bhattarai, who began his life as a left-wing rebel in 1977 after studying architecture in neighbouring India, said a possible solution to the impasse was an emergency parliamentary session and vote to abolish the monarchy.

The World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, has assured Bangladesh of continued support to its various development projects.
   He appreciated the caretaker government’s performance on electoral, governance and economic reforms.
   The World Bank boss made the assurance and appreciation when he called on the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, at the UN headquarters on Tuesday on the sidelines of 62nd UNGA session.
   Zoellick inquired about the post-flood rehabilitation being carried out by the government and underscored the bank’s interest in rural credit delivery.
   Briefing reporters chief adviser’s press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim said the World Bank would focus its assistance on infrastructures, especially roads, ports and bridges including co-financing of the Padma Bridge project.
   The chief adviser explained the current macro-economic situation and measures being undertaken to accelerate the growth and development as well as alleviate poverty. Possibilities of using micro-credit in agriculture sector were also discussed.
   Fakhruddin apprised him of the progress made about the election roadmap to hold the general elections ‘before the end of December 2008, or if possible, even at an earlier date’.
   Zoellick said he was looking forward to visiting Bangladesh soon and ‘learning from Bangladesh experience’.
   The foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the cabinet secretary, Ali Imam Majumdar, the permanent representative of Bangladesh to the UN, Ismat Jahan, and the World Bank alternate executive director, Zakir Ahmed Khan, were present.

NATO and US-led troops backed up by warplanes said Wednesday they had killed nearly 170 Taliban in two major battles in southern Afghanistan, while a US-led coalition soldier also died.
   The heaviest of the fighting with the Islamic insurgents erupted on Tuesday in the volatile southern province of Helmand, a Taliban stronghold, and continued into Wednesday, the coalition said.
   ‘The initial estimate by the ground force commander assessed that more than 104 insurgents were killed thus far in the engagement,’ it said in a statement.
   A soldier with the 15,000-strong US-dominated coalition was also killed and four wounded, it said. The nationalities of the foreign soldiers were not announced.
   The fighting erupted during an Afghan and coalition patrol aimed at clearing an ‘extensive trench system’ near the Taliban-controlled district centre of Musa Qala in Helmand, Afghanistan’s main opium-growing province.
   More than 65 rebels were killed late Tuesday in a similar battle in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, another hotbed for the Taliban insurgents, said a separate NATO-led force which has around 40,000 troops.
   NATO warplanes and artillery supported the Afghan and NATO forces on the ground, it said.
   ‘Precision-guided munitions were employed on positively identified Taliban positions, killing more than 65 insurgents,’ the International Security Assistance Force statement said.
   There have been several major clashes in southern Afghanistan in the past few weeks during which scores of rebels have been killed.
   The latest death of a coalition soldier took to 173 the number of international troops to have died in Afghanistan this year, most in combat operations, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
   About 4,000 rebels have also been killed and hundreds of civilians.

Bangladesh and the Organisation of Islamic Conference have agreed that active measures need to be taken to project Islam as a religion of peace, harmony and tolerance.
   The understanding was reached when the OIC secretary general, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, called on the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, at the UN headquarters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the current UNGA session.
   The OIC secretary general sought Bangladesh’s active support for various initiatives that he has launched within the OIC.
   Ekmeleddin also requested early ratification of a number of agreements that Bangladesh had signed with the OIC.
   He hoped that Bangladesh would have a high-level participation in the forthcoming OIC summit to be held in Dakar, Senegal in March next year.
   ‘Bangladesh is a large Muslim country and is viewed by the OIC as a very important player in the organisation as well as the international community,’ the secretary general said, adding OIC depends heavily on Bangladesh support.
   The foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the cabinet secretary, Ali Imam Majumdar, press secretary to chief adviser, Syed Fahim Munaim, the Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN, Ismat Jahan, and the director general of the OIC, Hemayet Uddin, were present.

The Rapid Action Battalion Wednesday morning arrested the chief and two other engineers of the Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority in a graft case.
   The battalion said they had arrested the chief engineer, Shafiqul Islam, superintendent engineer Mohammed Shafiullah, and assistant engineer AKM Abul Quddus, at the WASA building at around 9:30am in a corruption case filed in 2004.
   Mubinul Islam, an official of the now defunct Anti-Corruption Bureau, filed the case with the Kotwali police accusing five persons, including the three arrested, of misappropriating Tk 17 lakh of a project of Tk 96 lakh.
   The Chitttagong water supply agency said the project was taken up in 2002 to install pipelines at Bakalia in the city.
   The investigation officer of the case is scheduled to submit the charge sheet today, the police said.

The Rajshahi mayor, Mizanur Rahman Minu, earlier convicted to rigorous imprisonment for 13 years in an extortion case, was again sued on extortion charges on Wednesday.
   Four other BNP leaders, along with former BNP lawmaker Mizanur Rahman, have been accused in the case filed with the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Rajshahi.
   Former acting principal of Kazi Nazrul Islam College in the city Golam Mostafa filed the case on charge of extortion of Tk 1 lakh from him.
   Others accused in the case are Rajshahi district BNP organising secretary Alauddin Ahmed, and BNP leaders Anwar Hossain, Abul Kalam Azad and Anamul Haque, now acting principal of the college.
   The complainant alleged the mayor and four others extorted Tk 1 lakh from him with a threat to dismiss him from job on April 27, 2001.
   A Rajshahi court on August 26 sentenced the Rajshahi mayor and 10 others to 13 years’ rigorous imprisonment in another extortion case. The convicts were also fined Tk 10,000 each, in default to suffer 18 more months in jail.

The chief of army staff, General Moeen U Ahmed, hosted an iftar in honour of war-injured freedom fighters at Senakunja in Dhaka Tuesday evening.
   More than 300 injured veterans attended the iftar, also joined by the adviser for liberation war affairs, Major MA Matin, as the chief guest.
   The adviser and the army chief exchanged greetings with the 1971 veterans when General Moeen asked army doctors to arrange treatment of two ailing elderly freedom fighters — Shukkur Ali and Mohammad Shamsuddin — at the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka.
   A special munajat was offered seeking divine blessings for continued peace, advancement and prosperity of the country and nation in the iftar party.
   The secretary of the liberation war affairs, Abul Kasem Mah-bubul Alam, the convenor of Muktijoddha Sangsad, Masud Ahmed, and senior military officials were present on the occasion.

Some 6,000 chickens were culled at village Sahapur under sadar upazila Tuesday night following the detection of avian influenza virus in a poultry farm.
   Sources said Nakul Saha, owner of the poultry farm, took several dead chickens to Jaipurhat for laboratory test on suspicion that they might have died of bird flu.
   However, the laboratory test confirmed that the chickens died of avian influenza.
   Later on Tuesday, the chickens were buried in presence of district livestock resources officer Dr Shahadat Hossain, magistrate Harun-ur-Rashid and sadar thana OC Hasan Shamim Iqbal.

Sixty-two Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP leaders of Baghmara were sued in Rajshahi on Wednesday on charge of patronising militants. One Amir Ali of Jikra filed the case with a magistrate’s court.
   The accused are the Baghmara Jamaat secretary Nurul Islam, BNP leader Samsul Islam, Juba Dal leader Saiful Islam, Zinna, Abdus Salam and 57 others, the sources said.
   The plaintiff alleged Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh activists had demanded Tk 1 lakh from him in April 2004. He was picked up and tortured when he refused to pay the amount.
   The magistrate directed the Baghmara police officer-in-charge to file a case after investigation.