Ambassador of Switzerland to Bangladesh René Holenstein today said Switzerland commended all parties for their participation in 11th Parliamentary Elections in Bangladesh.

“Switzerland took note of the results of the 11th Parliamentary Elections and commended all parties for their participation in the process,” said Holenstein during a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque today.

The Swiss ambassador deplored the violence that occurred before and during the elections causing unnecessary suffering and pain, according to a statement.

Referring to reported accounts of intimidation, irregularities and further obstacles to a level playing field throughout the process, which have tainted the electoral campaign and the vote, Ambassador Holenstein underlined the need to address these reports in full transparency and according to the rule of law.

“Switzerland trusts that the new Government of Bangladesh will uphold the democratic values it was elected upon and that it will support the people’s will to move towards democracy in full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” he said.

He assured the foreign secretary that Switzerland looked forward to its continued partnership with Bangladesh.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) today approved the charge sheet against former Textiles and Jute Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui and one other in a case filed over misuse of power.

ACC brought the charges of illegally selling government property and incurring loss of Tk 40,69,021 against the two accused, sources said. The other accused is Begum Jahanara Rashid.

According to the accusations, the former minister sold government property of at least Tk 64,63,795 misusing his power to Jahanara for only Tk 23,94,774.

Md Aminul Islam, assistant director of ACC's integrated district office, filed the case on October 17, 2017 with the Adamdighi Police Station in Bogura in this regard.

ACC accepts charge sheet against police official, wife

The ACC also accepted a charge sheet against a police official and his wife for allegedly laundering Tk 4.33 crore illegally.

The ACC has accepted the charge sheet against Inspector Md Firoz Kabir of Barishal district, former sub-inspector (SI) of DMP’s Gulshan zone and his wife Sabrina Ahmed Eva under Money Laundering Prevention Act 2012, reads a press release of ACC.

Syed Ataul Kabir, assistant director of ACC main branch, had filed the case against the duo in 2017 with Gulshan Police Station.

Almost 82 percent of the lawmakers for the 11th parliament have assets worth more than Tk 1 crore, civil society platform Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) said in a report yesterday.

Of those MPs, 32 percent have assets worth more than Tk 5 crore, according to the report unveiled at the Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital.

According to finance ministry sources, only 0.06 percent of the total population of Bangladesh was valued at more than Tk 1 crore in 2016.     

“The wealthier candidates were elected,” Dilip Kumar Sarkar, Shujan's central coordinator, said while presenting the report.

In terms of income, 27 percent of the MPs have an income of over Tk 1 crore, 18 percent between Tk 50 lakh and 1 crore, 29 percent between Tk 25 lakh and 50 lakh and 17 percent between Tk 5 lakh and Tk 25 lakh.

Only five percent of the lawmakers had an income between Tk 2 and Tk 5 lakh while 1.34 percent of them had an income of less than Tk 2 lakh.

The report also mentioned that 1.34 percent of the MPs had not submitted their wealth statements in their affidavits.

It further showed that 61 percent of the next parliament is made up of businessmen and their number in the Jatiya Sangsad was increasing.

Additionally, 13 percent are lawyers, five percent servicemen, four percent farmers and the rest belonged to different professions.

It is a dangerous sign that the county's politics is going into the hands of businessmen and wealthy people, Shujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said at the programme.

Political analysts have said the major political parties' dependency on businessmen had effectively turned the politics into a business.

Lawyers, businessmen and farmers were the three most common occupations of the lawmakers elected to the country's first parliament in 1973.

Of the MPs in that parliament, 31 percent were lawyers and only 18 percent were businessmen.

However, in the fifth parliament, constituted through the election of 1991, businessmen outnumbered lawyers, with 38 percent being businessmen and 15 percent lawyers.

After the 2008 polls, 57 percent of the lawmakers elected were businessmen, which rose to 59 percent by 2014.

On a more positive note, Badiul Alam said it was a good sign that educated and taxpaying citizens were being elected as MPs.

The Shujan report shows that 43 percent of the new MPs hold post graduate degrees, 38 percent hold graduate degrees, 12 percent have passed the HSC exams and three percent were SSC graduates.

Only four percent did not pass the SSC exam.

It also said that seven percent of the lawmakers were now facing at least one case, while 45 percent had cases filed against them in the past.

The Supreme Court today stayed till November 17 a High Court order that granted bail to former textiles and jute minister Abdul Latif Siddique in a case against him on charge of misusing power in selling a government property.

The apex court passed the order following a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking stay on the HC order.

Also read: Latif Siddique gets 6-month bail in graft case

A four-member bench of Appellate Division of the SC headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain also asked the ACC to file a leave to appeal petition with this court by November 17 challenging the HC order.

ACC’s lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told the Daily Star that Abdul Latif Siddique cannot get released from jail following the SC order.

Advocate Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury appeared for Abdul Latif Siddique.

On November 4, the High Court granted the six-month bail to Latif Siddique and also issued a rule asking the ACC and the government to explain why he should not be granted permanent bail in this case.

ACC Assistant Director Aminul Islam lodged the case with Adamdighi Police Station in Bogura on October 10, 2017. Jahanara Rashid, wife of late Harunur Rashid, was also made accused in the case.

According to the case statement, Jahanara Rashid leased a piece of land in Adamdighi upazila -- owned by Bangladesh Jute Corporation -- for three years at Tk 1.2 lakh per year on May 13, 2010.

In spite of getting repeated orders from the textiles and jute ministry to pay rent for the land, Jahanara applied to the ministry to purchase the land on November 13, 2011.

The then textiles and jute minister Latif Siddique, without floating any formal tender, sold the land to Jahanara at Tk 23.94 lakh although its market price was Tk 64.63 lakh.

Following the incident, the ACC filed the case against Latif and Jahanara under the Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 1947.

On June 20 this year, a Bogura court sent Latif Siddique to jail in the case, rejecting his bail petition.