A special court framed charges against former telecommunications minister and Awami League (AL) leader Mohammad Nasim in connection with WorldTel scam.

The hearing on arguments of a case against Jatiya Party (Manju) leader Anwar Hossain Manju for possessing 21 bottles of contraband liquor will be held at a Dhaka court today.

FALU REMANDED
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday produced Mossaddak Ali Falu before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Jagannath Das Khokon at 1:45pm on completion of a four-day remand and sought a seven-day fresh remand.

In his forwarding report, ACC Assistant Director Sheikh Abdus Salam, also the investigation officer (IO) of the case, mentioned that Falu gave important information about government relief materials, which were seized from the office of a ward commissioner of his constituency and also about the whereabouts of his accomplices involved in misappropriating relief materials.

But Falu did not give information about wheat and rice seized from his accomplices' possession. He also did not follow the rules of the concerned ministry in distributing the materials among the destitute people, the IO added.

So he needs to be questioned about his involvement with misusing government relief materials and the whereabouts of his accomplices, the IO said.

The defence lawyers submitted a petition for cancellation of the remand prayer saying that their client was implicated in the case as part of a conspiracy to harass him.

On hearing both sides, the court rejected the defence plea and placed Falu on a four-day fresh remand for further interrogation.

Earlier, Falu was taken on a seven-day remand in two phases in connection with the same case.

On March 2, security personnel had recovered 605 corrugated iron (CI) sheets and 63 blankets meant for relief only at a ward commissioner's office at Tejgaon in the capital.

The law enforcers also recovered 37 CI sheets from the house of one Shafiuddin near BG Press Staff Quarters Mosque at Tejgaon.

During interrogation, Falu claimed that he purchased the sheets from Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan alias Jahangir, commissioner of ward no 37 and also the vice-president of Tejgaon BNP.

Acting on his information, security personnel had raided Jahangir's office at Begunbari of Tejgaon and found 63 blankets in gunnysacks and 605 CI sheets stacked up inside. Fifteen kilogrammes of rotten rice were also found there.

The law enforcers picked up Nazir Ahmed, office assistant of the commissioner, for interrogation.

Later, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) official Abdus Samad of Rab-2 filed a case with Tejgaon Police Station against Falu, Jahangir and four others.

CASE AGAINST SARWAR
Gulshan police on Monday filed a criminal case against Barisal City Corporation Mayor Mujibor Rahman Sarwar for possessing illegal ammunition at his Salton Myers residence at Gulshan in the capital.

Deputy Assistant Director Akheruzzaman of Rab-3 lodged the case against Sarwar with Gulshan Police Station in this connection.

Sarwar was picked up from his Gulshan residence at about 9:30am on May 29. The crack forces raided his residence in Gulshan and seized four bullets, Tk 4 lakh, gold ornaments weighing 50 tola and some documents.

CASE AGAINST NASIM
Judge Shahed Noor Uddin of the Third Special Court-- set up at Shere-e-Bangla Nagar MP Hostel-- framed charges against Nasim and AHS Rahman of Consocietes Limited in connection with WorldTel graft case.

Nasim pleaded not guilty and demanded justice before the court after the charges were read out. The court fixed Tuesday for trial of the case.

Mohammad Abdul Hai, an official of now defunct Bureau of Anti-Corruption, pressed charges against Nasim and AHS Rahman of Consocietes Limited on June 13, 2002.

Following the submission of charge sheet, Nasim and Rahman submitted separate criminal miscellaneous petitions to the High Court challenging the legality of the proceedings of the case.

The higher court had earlier rejected their petitions saying that the charges brought against them would be proceeded with.

In the case filed with Ramna Police Station, the complainant said in order to "illegally award" a contract to WorldTel for installing three lakh telephones, Nasim had appointed a private firm, Consosietes Ltd, for consultancy without any competitive bidding.

"Accordingly, the consultancy made "fictitious" recommendations for WorldTel, the lone bidder of the project, to "make its financial proposal look lucrative," read the FIR (first information report).

"In reality, the project was awarded to the WorldTel without any competition. Although there was no fund for appointment of a consultant, Nasim appointed Consosietes to the post and made the WorldTel pay for the fees. So, while Consosietes was on the payroll of WorldTel, it was also given the task to evaluate the latter's financial proposal," according to the FIR.

The matter has harmed the country's interest, the FIR said.

MANJU CASE
After completion of recording statements of all the prosecution witnesses, Judge Syed Jahed Mansur of the Ninth Assistant Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka fixed today for hearing on arguments of the case in Manju's absence.

The court had earlier recorded statements of seven prosecution witnesses including the complainant and the IO of the case.

On June 3, the same court framed charges against Manju in his absence and issued arrest warrant against him.

Before the order, the court had asked Manju to appear before the court to defend himself but he failed to oblige the court order. So, the court had cancelled his bail.

On May 14, Dhanmondi police pressed charges against Manju in the case.

Sub-Inspector Amirul Islam, also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate showing 12 people as prosecution witnesses.

On March 8, the joint forces raided Manju's Dhanmondi residence and seized 21 bottles of contraband liquor. Later, a case under the Narcotics Control Act was filed against him.

Following the case, Manju obtained bail from the High Court.

HUDA CASE
Another Dhaka court yesterday asked the jail authorities to produce detained former communications minister barrister Nazmul Huda on July 1 in connection with a fraud case.

After scrutinising the case docket and other relevant documents, Metropolitan Magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah passed the order on the issue.

On May 8, Dhanmondi police pressed charges against Huda in a criminal case filed against him for using a fake registration number for his sport utility vehicle (SUV).

Sub-Inspector Kazi Amirul Islam, also the IO of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the CMM's Court, Dhaka.

On February 25, police seized Huda's luxurious Cadillac Escalade bearing registration number Dhaka Metro Gha 11-9999 and filed a case against him on March 1.