It is alleged that Ferdous Ara, one of the joint secretaries of the ministry, went abroad 13 times from May 2002 to October 2003, violating a December 21, 2002 official order that says an official of the ministry or its departments cannot take part in programmes abroad more than four times a year.

Sources said Ferdous Ara, who was a tax official and promoted to joint secretary last year on the president's quota, rounded off her Manila trip last week and is scheduled to visit the Netherlands to attend a training workshop on gender and development on November 3-21. She is expected to go on two more visits overseas in December.

The ministry issued an order confirming her next month visit in a sign of bending its earlier order.

Prior to the December 21, 2002 order, Ferdous Ara visited Thailand twice, the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Slovakia and the US (New Orleans and Hawaii) between May and November 2002.

Of the eight visits in seven months last year, two were in May and as many in September, with most trips for seminar, workshop, convention, consultative meeting and conference.

After the order, she participated in similar programmes in North Ireland, Morocco, India, Switzerland and the Philippines from January to October this year.

Although the programmes were sponsored by donor agencies, foreign countries and organisations including UNFPA, Unicef, ADB and UNDP, an official cannot go on so many visits a year as per the office order issued by the ministry, officials explained.

The order says selection of officials for participation in foreign programmes should relate to their desk job, otherwise such invitations will be discouraged.

But the joint secretary, who is in charge of development and planning desk, and spent much of her time in service as tax official, took part in programmes on human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, discrimination against women, child migration, human-rights violation, threatened democracy and disadvantaged women and children.

Officials alleged many programmes attended by Ferdous Ara were meant for juniors, but she took part in them as she "enjoyed leverage" of the women and children affairs minister.

The programme in the Netherlands invited a junior official and a joint secretary does not need to take part in an elementary course like that, they said.

The officials also alleged that Ferdous Ara tasked more than three of her junior colleagues with writing a script for her.

She has allegedly been using more than one vehicle, although she is entitled to one: one of them includes a car under a Unicef-funded project, which is far more luxurious than other cars parked at the Bangladesh Secretariat.

Her husband Tajul Islam, press secretary to the prime minister, has also outpaced others in promotion from information service officer to deputy secretary immediately after the four-party alliance was voted into office. He was elevated to joint secretary in June last year to additional secretary on August 27.

Tajul was given a job in Bangladesh mission in New York during BNP's previous term.