Bangladesh’s ex-speaker booked for corruption

DHAKA - Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed cases against the former speaker of parliament, his deputy and a senior opposition party leader for corruption, misappropriation of public funds and misuse of power.

Cases were filed Tuesday against former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, his deputy Akhtar Hamid, secretary general of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Khandaker Delwar Hossain, and two officials of the parliament secretariat for moving furniture from government houses, and drawing excess gas and electricity bills.

Sircar and his deputy held the constitutional offices during 2001-06, when Delwar Hossain was the chief whip.

The anti-graft body found that Sircar and Delwar had taken Tk 20 million ($282,000) as medical expenses and fuel allowances and forced the parliament secretariat to pay extra electricity bills ignoring the rules, sources in the ACC told The Daily Star newspaper.

The ACC conducted the probe over the last 12 months on recommendation of a parliamentary committee that did a preliminary exercise.

The investigators also detected that Delwar Hossain ‘forced’ the parliament secretariat to pay the bills of 12 electricity metres of his residence, though he was entitled to receive the bill of only one metre.