e_Paper, Tuesday, October 18, 2016

4
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016
DT
News
TARIQUE’S MONEY LAUNDERING CASE
High Court releases full verdict
• Ashif Islam Shaon
The High Court, yesterday, released
the full text of it’s verdict in a money
laundering case that had sentenced
BNP Senior Vice Chairman
Tarique Rahman to seven years’ jail
and slapped fine of tk 20 crores.
The verdict also upheld a seven-year
conviction for Tarique’s
friend and business partner Gias
Uddin Al Mamun, but lowered his
fine to Tk20 crore, half of what was
originally fixed by the trial court on
November 17, 2013.
The verdict by the High Court
bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim
and Justice Amir Hossain was
delivered on July 21 this year that
scrapped a lower court verdict
which acquitted Tarique in the
money laundering case involving
Tk 20.41 crore.
In the 82-page full text, the High
BTRC asks
citizens to be
aware of fraud
calls or SMSs
• Tribune Desk
As allegations of massive frauds
started to pour in, Bangladesh Telecommunication
Regulatory Commission
in a statement issued yesterday
asked citizens to be aware
and not respond to phone calls and
SMSs that are falsely using the telecom
regulator’s name.
The BTRC came up with the
announcement after several incidents
of frauds were reported
where citizens were called on their
phones or received SMSs asking for
their personal and biometric SIM
registration information.
In the statement, BTRC
Secretary Sarwar Alam said they
had observed that some fraudsters
were making phone calls and
sending SMSs to customers using
the name of BTRC, confusing
them, and were collecting their
personal information like SIM
registration details and cash
related information (PIN number of
bKash and other mobile financial
accounts).
The statement further said the
BTRC had found instances where
fraud gangs were copying and using
the BTRC land line number
(+88029611111) and mobile number
(+8801555121121) when making
calls to customers.
If any such call or SMS is found,
citizens are requested to notify it to
BTRC consumer complaint related
call centre at 2872 or email to consumer.inquiries@btrc.gov.bd,
the
statement added. •
Court commented on Tarique’s
acquittal by the trial court, saying
that the trial judge himself made a
defense on behalf of the absconding
accused Rahman and thereby
committed serious error of law in
acquitting the accused.
Moreover, the lower court judge
misread and misconstrued the
definition of ‘Money Laundering’
as defined in the Money Laundering
Act 2002, it said.
The money laundering case was
filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission
in October 2009 against
them for laundering money to
Singapore between 2003 and 2007
after illegally obtaining the money.
From this amount, Tarique relied
on “deceitful means” to use a
supplementary credit card on different
dates and spent Tk3.78 crore
for his treatment and shopping in
Singapore between 2003 and 2006.
TI: We are not the enemy, corruption is
• Adil Sakhawat
Expressing concern over the Foreign
Donations (Voluntary Activities)
Bill, top Transparency International
official José Carlos said
such a law would reduce space and
possibilities for the civil society to
combat corruption.
Speaking at a press conference
at the Senate building of Dhaka
University yesterday, he said Bangladesh
scored 35 out of 100 in the
2015 Corruption Perceptions Index
of the Berlin-based global anti-graft
watchdog, which means
the country has a severe case of
public sector corruption.
“That is why Bangladesh needs
comprehensive diagnosis and national-level
planning for anti-corruption
measures to change the
situation,” he added.
Carlos is currently serving as the
chairperson of the international
board of directors of Transparency
International.
The bill has a provision that
allows the government to cancel
registration of NGOs for making
malicious and derogatory statements
against the constitution and
constitutional bodies, among other
reasons.
Khadiza Islam, as a prosecution
witness had told the trial court
that Mamun demanded money to
award a work order to M/S Harbin
Power Engineering Company of
China, where she was a local agent,
for the construction of an eighty
(80) MW capacity power station in
Tongi. The awarding process was
be done through Tarique Rahman.
Khadija and three others transferred
the money to Mamun’s account
with the City Bank NA in
Singapore on various occasions.
In 2008 the then Ad-Interim
Government of Bangladesh requested
the assistance of the United
States and US sent representative
to Dhaka to obtain information
regarding bribery cases.
During the trial at the lower
court, an FBI agent Debra La Prevotte
had testified that two credit
cards were found from two accounts
of Mamun in Singapore.
One was in the name of Mamun
and other in the name of Tarique
Rahman. Photostat copy of Tarique’s
passport was submitted to
City Bank Singapore to obtain the
second Visa Card.
Tarique’s Credit Card was used to
pay his travel expenses to visit Athens,
Frankfurt, Singapore, Bangkok
& Dubai along with shopping and
meet medical expenditures.
The High Court in full text of
judgment observed that ordinary
businessman Mamun had no authority
to interfere with the internal
affairs and works of the ministry.
“Mamun made it possible as he
was the close friend and business
partner of accused Rahman and obviously,
Mamun’s source of such ‘supernatural
power’ was the accused
Rahman, son of the then Prime Minister,”
the court observed. •
RAB Magistrate Sarwar Alam checks the expiry of medicines kept at a marketing agency yesterday during a raid in
Dhaka’s Segunbagicha. The agency was fined Tk10 lakh for marketing expired medicines and storing them in an incorrect
temperature
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
Khaleda’s Niko
graft case
deferred
• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu
A Dhaka court yesterday deferred
till November 16 the hearing on
charge framing against BNP Chairperson
Khaleda Zia and 10 others
in Niko graft case filed by the Anti-corruption
Commission a decade
ago.
Judge Md Aminul Islam of the
Dhaka’s Ninth Special Judge’s
Court gave the order accepting a
time petition filed by the defence
counsels.
During the hearing, Khaleda’s
counsel Md Sanaullah Miah filed
the time petition mentioning that
she could not appear due to illness.
The former prime minister appeared
at the court on August 10.
On November 30 last year, she
surrendered before the court following
a High Court order and secured
bail in the graft case.
The other accused include former
law minister Moudud Ahmed,
former state minister for energy
AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former
acting energy secretary Khandaker
Shahidul Islam and vice-president
(South Asia) of Niko Resources
Bangladesh Ltd Kashem Sharif.
The ACC filed the case with Tejgaon
police on December 9, 2007
accusing Khaleda and others of
abusing power to award a gas exploration
and extraction deal to
Canadian company Niko, when she
was the prime minister between
2001 and 2006.
In May 5, 2008, the anti-graft
watchdog submitted charge sheet
against Khaleda and 10 others.
Two months later, the High Court
stayed the proceedings following a
petition filed by Khaleda.
The High Court on June 18
cleared the way for the trial proceedings
to resume against Khaleda
and others. The court also directed
the BNP chief to surrender
before the trial court within two
months after a copy of the order
reached the lower court. •
Rights activists and groups condemned
the passage of the bill,
terming it repressive for the NGOs
and the civil society and contradictory
with the constitution.
Carlos further said he expected
space for the civil society organisations
– which includes Transparency
International itself – to fight
against corruption, or else corruption
would keep increasing in the
society. “We are not the enemy
here, corruption is.”
He said Transparency International
would support Bangladesh
government in all its anti-corruption
efforts, but they would not remain
silent when “things are going
wrong.”
Transparency International will
closely observe how implementation
of this law pans out in Bangladesh,
he added.
Sultana Kamal, chairperson of
Transparency International Bangladesh
who was also present at the
press conference, said: “Section 14
of the bill says if any NGO makes
malicious and offensive statement,
that NGO’s registration will be cancelled.
But the law does not define
how a statement would be considered
malicious and offensive. So
the law can be misused.” •