A parliamentary sub-committee probing alleged corruption of former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar yesterday said it would recommend the House to take stern actions against him as it found Sircar's financial anomalies undermined the dignity of the Speaker's office.
"The post of Speaker of Parliament is a symbol of transparency and pride of the nation but we keep revealing more and more terrible examples of misappropriation of money by the former speaker," Moyeen Uddin Khan Badal, a member of the parliamentary sub-committee, told reporters after its meeting.
"We are very shocked to see the misdeeds of a speaker. We have been revealing more cases of terrible theft and misappropriation of money as we went deep into the matter," he said.
The sub-committee formed by the all-party parliamentary committee to investigate the alleged corruption and misappropriation of money by the former speaker at yesterday's meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban discussed some more alleged corruption of Sircar.
It will finalise its report on May 6 and submit it to the all-party parliamentary probe body to place its recommendations before the House on taking actions against Sircar, who is also a member of the ninth Parliament.
Citing an example of misappropriation of money, Awami League lawmaker Shajahan Khan, chief of the parliamentary sub-committee, said the former speaker spent Tk 35 lakh and Tk 45 lakh in 2003-04 and 2005-06 fiscal years for arboriculture purpose, which the committee thinks is unusually high.
The sub-committee also raised questions on his receiving Tk 1 lakh every year for arboriculture at his official residence.
"Without floating any tender, the former speaker awarded those works to some specific contractors to serve his interest," he alleged.
Shajahan said MA Jalil, a contractor who was awarded the job of planting grass on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises under a Tk 1-crore project, did not show up before the committee even though he was summoned.
"Actually we could not trace the contractor [MA Jalil], a member of BNP central committee, as the address he had provided was the address of a rice mill," Shajahan said, adding, "We have asked authorities concerned to place him before the committee's next meeting."
Asked whether Jamiruddin Sircar will loose his membership in Parliament if the committee finally finds him guilty of corruption, Badal said the House would decide the next course of action.
"The then Indian Parliament expelled Sree Mudagale, a lawmaker in 1951 after he admitted to misuse of power before the committee formed to investigate his alleged corruption," Badal said.
"Parliament is the symbol of transparency and morality and if anyone undermines its dignity, our parliament will take very stern action," he said.
Meanwhile, another parliamentary sub-committee yesterday said the former speaker wasted Tk 63 lakh by recruiting 84 employees for the parliamentary standing committee after the eight parliament dissolved on October 26, 2006.
The parliamentary sub-committee, for investigating alleged irregularities in recruiting employees, said it has finalised its report mentioning specific recommendations for all-party parliamentary probe body.
The sub-committee chief Mujib-ul Haque Chunnu said the former speaker breached oath of office by appointing employees violating rules and wasting public money.
"We have sufficient evidence that the former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar violated laws while appointing employees in parliament and also misused public money through appointing 84 employees to work for the parliamentary standing committees on different ministries when the eight parliament was over," Mujibul Haque, head of the sub-committee, told reporters after a meeting of the committee at the parliament building.
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