The Daily Star Investigation
The Daily Star Investigation / A councillor and his illicit tobacco trade
A significant share of Bangladesh’s illegal cigarette market is controlled by two companies where Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Councillor Abdus Sabur Liton and his brother have the majority stakes, an investigation by The Daily Star has found.
The Daily Star Investigation / Dubious reward for a select few
Only a select 27 employees of NRBC Bank were given salary hikes, and that too astonishingly, in 2022 in violation of banking rules as well as NRBC’s own human resources policy
20 plates of rice, 118 plates of curries for a lunch of 4!
NRBC Bank’s top managers have great appetites.
The Daily Star Investigation / Gun in NRBC Bank boardroom
During the 40th board meeting of NRBC Bank on February 7, 2016, current Chairman Tamal Parvez and Director Adnan Imam entered the boardroom accompanied by a man carrying a large gun. Both Tamal and Adnan were board directors back then.
From the archives: Aug 21 Attack on Hasina — a Hawa Bhaban plot
It was a long, dark plot. A chilling conspiracy was getting final touches in an eerie August of 2004, a month that brings to mind the memories of a past bloodbath. The plot for a high-profile assassination was awaiting approval, again.
3 Dev projects in Cox’s Bazar: Syndicate finds mines of money
A syndicate of bureaucrats, politicians and officials of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) in Cox’s Bazar have systematically siphoned off Tk 78 crore in public money from three development projects.
From the archives / Crimes behind Brahman cows
Import ban, so what? There are ways to sneak those in, through the country’s main airport even.
28 Axle Load Control Centres: Crucial RHD project runs into snag
Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has failed to start the physical work of a project taken up two years ago for installing 28 axle load control centres despite a call by one of its wings for implementing axle load control on highways ungently to reduce road damages.
TRAFFICKED into nightmares
Transnational trafficking gangs allegedly backed by some ruling party men have long been using different border points of Jashore to traffic women and children to India.
HARDLY ANYTHING SAFE TO EAT
Over 10 thousand samples of more than 50 different food items were tested at the Institute of Public Health in 2012-13. About 60 percent of the samples were found adulterated or contaminated
ILLEGAL, HARMFUL
The importers of ripening agents dupe the government by saying they are only importing the PGRs. They get away with this, as the government has no mechanism in place to monitor what is being imported and marketed, said industry insiders.
Confusing battle fought so far
Imported by the Department of Fisheries two years ago without any scientific assessment, the machine is mostly used for measuring formalin in the environment, said Barc.
Cold chain can save food supply chain
The issue came to the fore in recent years after food adulteration reached alarming proportions.
Evil rules as state sleeps
The sheer indifference of successive governments in enforcing the law has given the offenders the freedom to make a market where profit takes priority over people's lives.
Profit, more profit
Mango traders in Chapainawabganj and Rajshahi use toxic chemicals to ripen the fruit. They also do so to get the produce out on the market sooner and to increase its shelf life.
Drug admin official couldn't care less
Abul Khair Chowdhury is a government official now serving as an assistant director of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA). Intriguingly, police failed to get hold of him despite summon and arrest orders in the last two years.
JUSTICE DELAYED, NOT DENIED
Adflame's Paracetamol syrup Flammadol containing toxic chemical diethylene glycol was responsible for the deaths of a number of children between 1982 and 1992.
Target Taliban rule
Habibur himself revealed the link in an interview with a bulletin titled "Islami Biplob" (Islamic revolution), published on August 20, 1998, in Sylhet with the express purpose of celebrating "the total victory of Talibans and establishment of an Islamic state in Afghanistan".
All records 'lost' from drug office
Documents available in court indicate clearly that the DGDA deliberately destroyed the cases. Meanwhile, people present during the 1992 drugs test recalled how proper steps regarding the matter had been bypassed since the very beginning.