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A parliamentary panel on Tuesday asked the speaker, deputy speaker and chief whip of the eighth parliament to return to the state exchequer a sum of more than Tk 3.5 million, which they had allegedly plundered in the name of medical expenses, officials said.
The panel also recommended scrapping the parliamentary membership of Jamiruddin Sircar, elected in by-polls for a Bogra constituency vacated by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, following his defeat in his own constituency in the 2008 general elections, for his involvement in 'endemic corruption and immorality' by assuming one of the three highest positions of the state.
'Flouting the rules and abusing his authority, the former speaker, being the third important person of the state, approved medical expenditures for himself, for the then deputy speaker and the former chief whip. This is a serious corruption on his part. His membership [of the parliament] should be cancelled,' the three-member investigation panel said in one of the five-point recommendations in the report.
The panel investigating alleged corruption of the former speaker also recommended legal action against the three key lawmakers of the eighth parliament who managed the proceedings of the house.
Former deputy speaker Akhter Hamid Siddiqui, now detained in jail, and former chief whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain, also the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's secretary general, were charged with corruption by the committee and were asked to return the money they had received.
The committee asked Jamiruddin to return Tk 2,786,364, Akhtar Hamid Tk 600,000, and Delwar Tk 121,703.59 to the state exchequer as the committee found that they had took the money flouting the law in the name of medical treatment overseas.
After more than a month of investigation of the alleged corruption by the former speaker, two of the three subcommittees placed their reports at a meeting of the all-party committee, which was formed by the house on March 19.
The meeting, presided over by the committee chairman, Fazle Rabbi Mia, a ruling Awami League lawmaker, decided to summon the three before the committee to hear their versions before making the final decision.
'We have decided to hear them before making the final decision. We will call them to defend themselves during any of the next meetings of the committee,' the chairman said.
Headed by ruling party lawmaker SK Abu Baker, the subcommittee, which investigated the alleged anomalies in medical expenses by the top executives of the eighth parliament, said in its recommendations that the former speaker, deputy speaker and chief whip had grossly violated the expenditure rules.
The former speaker is mainly responsible for the irregularities as he sanctioned the amount in violation of the law, the report said.
It also levelled money laundering charges against the three, saying no evidence was found that they had legally taken foreign currency out of the country for expenditure, according to the report.
The subcommittee also charged the former speaker, his deputy and the former chief whip with contempt of parliament as they had not complied with the parliamentary investigation although the committee sent letters to them seeking their travel documents.
'Non-cooperation with the committee constitutes contempt of parliament,' the report said.
The other report, submitted by the second subcommittee, mentioned that the former speaker had violated the rules while appointing employees to the parliament secretariat during Jamiruddin's seven-year tenure.
The report on expenditures for parliamentary beautification projects will be submitted on May 14, said a member of the committee.
The all-party committee will prepare a report examining the investigation reports of the subcommittees.
The report, to be submitted to the house, will incorporate recommendations on measures against the former speaker, former deputy speaker and former chief whip of Jatiya Sangsad.
The committee members beforehand will cross-examine a number of parliament secretariat officials, who were members on selection committees for appointment, at the committee's next meeting scheduled for May 14.
The parliament on March 19 formed the all-party investigation committee, including a member from the mainstream BNP, to look into the alleged corruption by the former speaker.
The BNP later decided to refrain from the proceedings of the committee saying it would not want to be party to the 'character assassination' of the former speaker.
http://www.newagebd.com/2009/may/06/front.html
