Govt to probe Yunus stint at Grameen Bank

Dhaka, Aug 2 ( The government will examine whether it was lawful for Muhammad Yunus to continue holding the office of Managing Director of Grameen Bank beyond the mandated age of 60.
The government is also going to declare an ordinance with changes in the rules for appointing Managing Director of the Nobel prize-winning microlending institution founded in 1983 through a martial law ordinance.
The changes will come through the 'Grameen Bank Ordinance (Amendment) 2012', the draft of which the Cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina endorsed on Thursday.
"The Cabinet asked the Banks and Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance to look into whether his holding office after the stipulated age was lawful or not, how much money he took in that time and whether it was legal," Cabinet Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan later told journalists.
Also, the National Board of Revenue was asked to submit a report on whether the Nobel Peace laureate brought in any money from abroad as a wage earner and if so, if he is allowed to do so and whether he got any tax waiver on the amount.
The NBR will make the report with the help of Bangladesh Bank, the Cabinet Secretary added.
Yunus and Grameen was flung into public glare after a Norwegian TV documentary in 2010 revealed that country's aid agency Norad's annoyance in the late 1990s over Yunus' handling of aid money meant for the Bank.
Yunus was challenged by the then Norwegian Ambassador to Bangladesh for failing to inform the donors before transferring the millions of dollars to a sister entity.
While the Norwegians later insisted that no criminal activity has taken place, Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim said it was "totally unacceptable that aid is used for other purposes than intended".
Grameen Bank claimed there was no wrongdoing in the agreement between the bank and Grameen Kalyan, under which it received Tk 3,917 million from Grameen Bank.
Chief executive since Grameen was founded originally with government support and ownership, Yunus was questioned by the central bank for continuing in his job far beyond the retirement age for any executive in any such institution in Bangladesh.
Yunus was nearly 71 when the Bangladesh Bank gave the notice in March 2011.
He went to the court and lost a series of legal battles, finally in the Supreme Court, eventually losing his hold on the institution he is credited with building.

Khoka bailed in arson case

Thursday, August 2, 2012 A Dhaka court on Thursday granted permanent bail to former Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka accused in an arson case.
The case was filed with Tejgaon Police Station against 46 opposition leaders for torching a bus near the Prime Minister’s Office during hartal hours on April 29.
Metropolitan magistrate Harun-or-Rashid granted the bail on Thursday after Khoka surrendered before his court.
Earlier on Tuesday, the same court rejected his bail petition and issued an arrest warrant against him as he was absent during the charge framing hearing in the case.
The Dhaka court set August 7 for the beginning of trial of forty-six opposition leaders, including BNP acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in the same case

Fitra fixed at Tk 55

Dhaka, Aug 2  Fitra for this year has been fixed at Tk 55 per person considering the market price of wheat or flour.
The Islamic Foundation took the decision at a meeting Thursday, Public Relations Officer Billal Bin Kashem told bdnews24.com.
He said that money equivalent to the market price of 1.65kg of wheat or flour, raisin, cheese or barley could be distributed among the poor people as Sadkatul Fitr or Fitra before the Eid-ul-Fitr congregation.
"Considering the market prices of these commodities, this year the Fitra per person has been fixed between Tk 55 and Tk 1,500."
Last year, the Fitra was fixed at Tk 53 and in 2010 it was fixed at Tk 45.
According to Islamic rituals it is Wazib for all the solvent Muslims to give Fitra. Father has to pay the Fitra for adolescent children. And the Fitra has to be distributed before the Eid-ul-Fitr congregation.
Baitul Mukarram National Mosque khatib Maolana Mohammad Salah Uddin presided over the meeting also attended by Islamic Foundation Director Sirajul Haque.

No internet for 3 hours after midnight

Dhaka, Aug 1 Internet connectivity will remain snapped for three hours early on Thursday in Bangladesh due to repairs of the submarine cable.
Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Ltd (BSCCL) Managing Director Monwar Hossain told bdnews24.com there would be no internet connection for three hours starting at 2pm.
"The time has been fixed to change router in the cable in the area between Malaysia and Singapore," he said.
The undersea cable's east segment was snapped 60 km off Singapore on June 6.
Currently, Bangladesh depends on a single submarine cable and often faces issues. India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia have alternative arrangements that spare them from such hassles.
The submarine cable system that Bangladesh is currently connected to is a high capacity optical fibre cable system linking 16 companies of 14 countries.
Called the South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe- 4 (SEA-ME-WE-4) cable network, it is managed by an international consortium.
Bangladesh is expected to connect with the SEA-ME-WE-5 by 2014.

Shaon, Mazharul sued for killing Humayun Ahmed

Wednesday, August 1, 2012 Meher Afroz Shaon, wife of the illustrious writer Humayun Ahmed, and Mazharul Islam, publisher of Anya Prokash Publications Ltd, were sued on Wednesday on the charge of killing the litterateur.
Thirteen days after the death of Humayun Ahmed, lawyer and writer Advocate Nazrul Islam filed the case with the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Chittagong ABM Nizamul Haque.
The court took the charges into cognisance and asked Criminal Investigation Department to submit report after investigation, reports our Chittagong correspondent.
The noted writer and filmmaker died of colon cancer in a New York hospital on July 19 at the age of 64.
In the case statement, the plaintiff claimed that it was a pre-planned murder.
Shaon and Mazharul committed the murder in connivance with each other to misappropriate the cash and property of Humayun Ahmed, the case statement said.
Nazrul Islam mentioned news editors of the daily Amar Desh and the daily Azadi, published from Chittagong, and writer Abdul Hye Shikder as witnesses of the case.

Another accused admits killing Saudi official

Khalaf Al Ali Star Online Report

Another accused in Saudi embassy official Khalaf Al Ali murder case admitted his involvement in the killing before a metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka on Wednesday.
Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan recorded the statement of Akbar Ali alias Lalu, one of the four accused in the case, for over two and a half hours at his chamber.
Khalaf, 45, an official with the consular section of the Saudi embassy in Dhaka, was shot dead near his house in the diplomatic enclave in the wee hours of March 6.
Akbar Ali said he along with four others – Saiful Islam Mamun, 20, Rafiqul Islam Khokon, 22, Al Amin, 25, and Md Selim – were present at the scene of occurrence.
Saiful shot Khalaf, he said, echoing Al Amin who confessed to the killing before the magistrate on July 30.
Before shooting him, the muggers locked into a brawl with Khalaf when the gang demanded some dollars from him and he refused to do so, the accused told the magistrate.
After recording the statement, the court sent Akbar Ali to jail.
Detectives recently arrested the four and shown them arrested in the case while Selim is on the run.

The case was included as a sensational one under the home ministry's monitoring cell on July 1.
Four months and 19 days into the killing of Khalaf, detectives on July 25 at a press briefing claimed that the incident was of simply mugging.

Polls under non-party govt a must: Fakhrul

Mirza Fakhrul Islam AlamgirStar Online Report

Two days after BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia reiterated that the next general elections must be held under a non-party neutral government, party’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday also echoed her.
“BNP will not allow the parliamentary polls without a neutral government,” he told journalists in the party's central office at Nayapaltan in the afternoon.
Fakhrul termed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s suggestion of forming an interim government ‘vague’.
He alleged that the PM had suggested this to mislead people, and to stop the BNP’s ongoing movement against the government.
About holding talks with the government, the BNP leader said the party is ready to talk on neutral administration before parliamentary polls, if the prime minister wants.
Protesting the oppression and cases filed against the opposition men, Fakhrul said the cases were filed to keep our leaders away from the election.
Apparently rejecting the prime minister’s proposal to form an