BANGLADESH

The High Court on Monday asked the government and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) why Section-2 CC of the SEC Ordinance that allowed the regulator 'special power' would not be declared unconstitutional.

The section of the SEC Ordinance allows the regulator to impose any condition if it is not contradictory with Company Act 1994 or any other laws. SEC issued the circular asking directors to hold minimum shares to retain in the boards following Section-2 CC, which the market analysts describe as 'special power'.

The bench of justices Hasan Foez Siddique and Jahangir Hossain issued the rule following five separate writ petition filed by 24 directors of five companies challenging the legality of the section of the SEC Ordinance-1969.

Additional Attorney General Murad Reza said the government and SEC would have to respond to the rule within a week.

He said the petitioners had pleaded for cancellation the SEC order of minimum shareholding by directors following Section-2 CC of the ordinance, but the court issued the rule rejecting their plea.

Chief Justice Mohammad Mozammel Hossain on Sunday morning sent the petitions to this bench for hearing after it was referred to him.

The five companies who filed are NCC Bank, Markentile Bank, South-East Bank, National Life Insurane and Prime Finance.

Llawyer Dr Kamal Hossain, former Attorney General Mahmudul Islam, Barrister Akhtar Imam and Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud argued for the petitioners while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the SEC during the hearing.

The petitioners filed the writs at the High Court on May 22. The court had sent the matter to the Chief Justice to give the decision after hearing all sides.

These five writs were filed after the court cancelled three writ petitions filed by directors of three companies challenging the legality of the SEC circular making it mandatory for directors of listed companies to hold minimum sahres.

The writs question the legality of the Section-2 CC of the SEC Ordinance following which the market regulator had issued the circular.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) are in a tug of war over issuing licences for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service.

The ministry had recently sent the draft licence policy to the telecoms regulator, who on Thursday wrote back saying the draft needed a review as it was not in line with the telecommunications law.

The process to finalise the policy on issuing licences to stop illegal VoIP calls began last year. BTRC was supposed to start issuing licences from April, but the process is lingering on as the two keep exchanging letters.

Telecoms Secretary Sunil Kanti Bose told bdnews24.com: "We have done away with the system of evaluating the application of firms by marking them to ease the licensing process in the final policy. Concurrently, the authority to form the scrutiny committee has been vested with the ministry."

"The final policy has also dropped BTRC's proposal to specify the number of licences to be issued."

"BTRC will take too much time if it is given the job to evaluate applications and form the scrutiny committee. That's why the decision was taken," the Secretary reasoned.

Bose further said they had seen to it that big firms did not get the licences. "If the licences are given to general entrepreneurs, the number of unemployment will be reduced."

But BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed has a different story to tell.

"The telecoms law doesn't support the changes made in the licence policy by the ministry. We've asked the ministry to review their decision," he told bdnews24.com.

Secretary Bose, however, said he did not get any letter from BTRC. "But if I get the letter, the answer will be sent on Sunday or Monday."

"The letter to BTRC will say the ministry's decision on the process will not be changed." He said the process of issuing licence will be finished 'at the soonest'.

The BTRC lost its right to issue any telecom licences to the telecom ministry following the amendment to the telecommunications law in 2010. The tug of war between the two institutions had begun since then.

According to the law, anyone must apply to the BTRC for any kind of telecom licences. BTRC will issue the licences following the government's approval.

The draft policy sets the licence application fee at Tk 5,000 while the fee for licence authorisation is Tk 500,000 with a bank guarantee of Tk 250,000. Successful operators will have to return 20 percent of their earnings to the government while Tk 10,000 will be charged for renewing licence every year.

The draft policy also bars the licenced operators, who will be known as VoIP Service Provider (VSP), from making more than 90 calls at one time.

According to the BTRC statistics, nearly 40 million minutes of international calls are made legally to and from Bangladesh per day while 10 million minutes of calls are terminated illegally on average.

BRTC said the government loses Tk 50 million in revenue every day due to illegal VoIP and currently every international call charges $0.3 for Bangladesh.

The man who killed a 16-year old girl has said today that he had cut her body into 26 pieces after raping her to avoid arrest.

Saiduzzaman Bachchu told police and journalists on Sunday that his fear that he would be forced to marry her forced him to commit the macabre murder.

Police recovered the body parts of the girl, identified as 'Rumi', daughter of one Saddam Fakir of Kajiaparha at Alphadanga in Faridpur, from two buildings at Hatirpool in Dhaka on Saturday.

Police made the recovery after local people informed them of finding a piece of the girl's leg beside Nahar Plaza on Saturday morning.

Some pieces were retrieved from a room of Sonali Recruiting Agency on the 12th floor of the plaza, some from a room of Sky Garden Hotel on the 11th floor and the rest from the roof of an adjacent five-story building.

The recruiting agency owner, Bachchu, 30, was detained following the recovery.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Additional Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman said Bachchu told them during interrogation that he and Rumi came to know each other through mobile-phone conversation and the Faridpur girl had visited him in Dhaka once, a year ago.

He had bought Rumi a cell phone during that visit, Rahman added.

"Ten to twelve days back, Bachchu got in touch with Rumi once again, when she had come to visit her aunt at Mirpur. He (Bachchu) brought Rumi to the office of Sonali Recruiting Agency from Mirpur in an auto-rickshaw at 6pm Friday."

Bachchu also confessed having sex with Rumi that night, Rahman said as police produced him before the media at the detective police office.

Bachchu said at the media call that other shopkeepers around began gossiping seeing Rumi in his office and he had the door locked from outside.

He said that he strangled her with his hands fearing that people may force him to marry the girl.

Then, Bachchu first severed the head from her body with a knife, before cutting other parts off their joints. He also took off flesh from the severed parts through the entire night.

"I threw parts of the body outside the room and some parts into the toilet so that nobody could suspect there was any girl in my room," Bachchu said.

He could not escape on Saturday morning as police and journalists had already arrived.

Detective Branch's Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam told journalists Bachcu was from Faridpur and was separated from his family. He was staying at his office at Nahar Plaza.

Islam said Rumi was from a poor family and her two other sisters live at a shanty in the capital.

The anti-graft body will quiz former army chief and Destiny 2000 Limited President Lt Gen (Retd)Harun-Ar-Rashid over allegations of irregularities in the multi-level marketing company.

"The commission had decided to interrogate anyone it thinks necessary," Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Commissioner M Badiuzzaman told reporters on Sunday.

"Accordingly, now the commission thinks it is necessary to quiz Harun-Ar-Rashid," he added.

Harun had been the Coordinator of the Sector Commanders Forum. He had stepped down following news reports alleging corruption in the company.

Until Sunday, ACC interrogated 16 officials of Destiny, including Managing Director Rafiqul Amin. Those quizzed on Sunday are Destiny Vice Presidents Nepal Chandra Biswas and Sheikh Tayabur Rahman, Destiny Aviation Director Abul Kalam Azad, and Destiny Assistant Executive Director Zakir Hossain.

Irregularities at Destiny were found in an investigation conducted by Bangladesh Bank. ACC started investigating the irregularities after those were reported in the media. It formed a two-member body comprising its Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sarder and Assistant Director Toufiqul Islam to investigate the irregularities.

The panel submitted its report after two months of investigation on May 23. The probe found evidences to substantiate the irregularities taking place at Destiny and its sister concerns.

The report said top officials of the company were involved in corruption of several crores of Taka. The money was earned through import and real estate businesses. The top officials of the company siphoned off the money earned through corruption to their personal accounts, said the investigation report.

Parliament may ask Bishwa Sahitya Kendra founder Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed to appear before the House for explaining his 'objectionable' remarks against members of parliament and ministers.

Presiding officer Prof Ali Ashraf said Abu Sayeed must tender an unconditional apology for his remarks.

He also urged MPs for issuing notice for hampering their special rights.

Prof Ashraf, who was presiding in the absence of Speaker Abdul Hamid and Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali, made the observation during the time allocated for unscheduled discussions.

Sayeed, at a discussion arranged by the Transparency International, Bangladesh on Saturday, had said that MPs and Ministers act like thieves and dacoits and breach oath.

Independent lawmaker Fazlul Karim initiated the debate over the statement in the House. Jatiya Party lawmaker Mujubul Haque Chunnu and Awami League's presidium committee member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim followed and castigated Sayeed.

Terming the MPs' statements 'appropriate', Ali Ashraf said the country belongs to the people and "they have elected us".

"The speech does not speak well. We can call him to parliament. We have to set an example. He has to apologise unconditionally. Nobody has the right to undermine parliament," he said.

"Undermining parliament is a bad augury. We have to take action against this," the presiding officer said adding that such instances are blots on democracy.

In his statement, without naming Sayeed, Fazlul, said, "An intellectual has made an irresponsible comment at a discussion organised by the Transparency International Bangladesh. His statement is regrettable."

Urging the parliament to concentrate whether action can be taken against Sayeed, he said, "This kind of statement will not be good for democracy."

Chunnu said, "He (Fazlul) has not mentioned the name. It was Prof Abu Sayeed ... Politicians have done great things for the country."

"Politicians have made sacrifices for the sake of the country. Intellectuals can only give a advices. He has dishonoured the electorate," he added.

Selim was the man to speak on the issue last.

He said, "This is an attack on parliament and democracy. Intellectuals have become the conscience of the nation. But we can't find them when the country needs them."

"What do they do? From where do they spend so much money? I want to ask the finance minister, what is their source of money? They organise one or two seminars every week. How do they manage to own such expensive cars?" he went on.

Selim continued, "They become mad if an elected government stays in power. They get respectable positions during the tenure of an unelected government. What was their role after the 1/11? Don't we know that? You (Syeed) had not uttered a single word when businessmen, students and teachers were arrested after 1/11."

"Transparency International, Bangladesh looks for corruption in the ministries ... who are they?"