Faiz Khan is a US citizen and according to the constitution, dual citizens are barred from becoming advisers or ministers.

Sources said the youngest son of a powerful minister of the immediate past government, a top executive at the Chittagong Stock Exchange and one of the advisers of the new caretaker government nominated Faiz Khan.

The chief of the caretaker government and others involved in the adviser selection process were unaware of Faiz Khan's background when they picked him, acting on the recommendation of an adviser at the present government, added the sources.

The caretaker government contacted Faiz in USA, where he lives, and asked him to come to Bangladesh to take oath as an adviser. The government announced Tuesday that he would soon take his oath.

However, yesterday, the government changed its decision and dropped his name from the council of advisers following a report in The Daily Star over his dual citizenship and his controversial job with the immediate past 4-party alliance government.

Faiz Khan was appointed as senior IT consultant to the home ministry for one year from June 2005 till July 2006 at a total maximum fee of Tk 51 lakh which includes Tk 15 lakh as per diem allowance to cover his air travel and other expenses.

In his March 2005 application to the Home Ministry for the post of IT consultant, Faiz Khan said he had worked outside the US -- in the Maldives and in Pakistan as a consultant under projects funded by World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The Daily Star reported that when Faiz Khan was appointed as the senior IT consultant to the home ministry in 2005, the additional secretary in charge of the interview board of the IT consultant recruitment process opposed his selection. The additional secretary said Faiz Khan did not meet the criteria for the post and his background did not justify his appointment to lead the Machine Readable Passport project as a consultant. Despite this, Faiz was appointed and the additional secretary was transferred to another ministry.

Soon after his appointment, a son of an influential minister serving in the then government exerted tremendous pressure on the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to make Faiz's Tk 3 lakh monthly salary tax-free on the argument that he was a taxpayer in the US and he would therefore be subject to double taxation. Although it was illogical, Faiz's salary was made tax-free.

After taking charge, Faiz set criteria for potential bidders for the MRP project in such a way that only certain companies would be able to participate in the bid.

Eventually his consultancy failed to make the Tk 1500 crore MRP project successful, as it was so flawed that the cabinet rejected it despite tremendous pressure from the 'alternative powerhouse'.

Home ministry sources told The Daily Star that the young leaders of the 'alternative powerhouse' were seeking huge kickbacks upfront from the German company that would be awarded the project if the cabinet had approved it. Faiz was allegedly a part of this scam.

Faiz's past performance with the NBR was not noteworthy either. Between April '95 and November '97, he worked as an IT adviser at NBR's excise, tax and customs administration reform project funded by the World Bank.

Faiz graduated in Computer Science from the University of North Texas, USA. His former colleagues there did not speak highly of him saying he could not demonstrate any extra-ordinary expertise in his field, the source added.