Falu however denied taking Tk 50 crore but admitted to taking some amount of money from Obaidul Karim with the consent of Khaleda Zia for running the daily Amar Desh, a newspaper owned by Falu.

Sources said Babar also divulged to the interrogators that the former premier's detained son also BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman and his friend Giasuddin Al Mamun took Tk 150 crore from Sheba Telecom, which later became Banglalink. Sources said the money was extorted from the telecom company.

During interrogation by the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) Mossaddak Ali Falu, owner of private satellite channels ntv and Rtv, and the Bangla daily Amar Desh, said Abu Sufian, a director of Bashundhara Group, gave him around five to seven lakhs of taka for 'party expenditure'.

Falu told the interrogators that Harris Chowdhury, political secretary to former prime minister Khaleda Zia, Lutfozzaman Babar, Tarique Rahman and Giasuddin Al Mamun are the most corrupt persons in BNP.

ORION'S PARTNER BELHASA BRIBES FALU
Babar during the interrogation said Belhasa Group, a foreign partner of Orion Group, paid Tk 50 crore to Mossaddak Ali Falu (allegedly through Obaidul Karim) in exchange for the work order to construct the Jatrabari flyover. He said Dhaka City Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka also received a considerable amount of money from the group. Sources claimed Babar told the interrogators that Khaleda Zia helped to pass in the cabinet the work order in favour of Belhasa.

He said Inqilab Group and businessman Salman F Rahman complicated matters by participating in the tender. Sources said Babar told the interrogators that a large amount of bribe had to be given to Salman and Inqilab Group to make them bow out of the tender.

Babar said Belhasa was supposed to give Tk 20 crore more to fund BNP's election campaigns.

He told the interrogators that Tarique Rahman was supposed to get 20 percent of the whole deal since the lease of the flyover was granted for 25-30 years instead of 15 years, giving the company a chance to make a handsome profit after recovering the investment.

Sources claimed that Babar told the investigators that the shareholders of the deal used fake names to avoid problems in the future. For example, Tarique and Mamun have 50 percent share of Etv, but their names cannot be found on documents.

FOREIGN MONEY IN BNP POLL FUND
The governments of Pakistan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia contributed a total of Tk 300 crore to immediate past premier Khaleda Zia's election fund, with each of the states contributing Tk 100 crore, according to the confessions of Babar.

Babar, who is being interrogated by the TFI, also divulged that the Kuwait Ameer gave Khaleda the money during her visit to that country immediately before she relinquished power.

The joint forces arrested Babar from his Gulshan residence on May 28.

Sources said the former state minister for home also told the interrogators that the former premier's parliamentary affairs adviser Salauddin Quader Chowdhury kept the Pakistan government's Tk 100 crore contribution with himself. Babar added that two businessmen also knew about the contributions the former premier received from the governments of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Intelligence officials earlier picked up one of the two businessmen and interrogated him for quite a long time on the matter. Sources said during the interrogation the businessman confirmed that the alleged transactions had taken place.

Babar also told the interrogators that Khaleda looked for people to keep the money with them when she was at the helm of the country. The former home ministry boss said his brother Golam Rabbani opened up an FDR account of Tk 20 crore under the names of five to six companies, a portion of which Babar invested in his fishing business. Later, he came to know that the money came from Warid Telecom.

He also told the interrogators that two bighas of land was bought at Shantinagar in the capital under the names of Tarique Rahman and his younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko, but it was propagated that the land had been bought under BNP's name to set up its office.

SKIMMING OFF FROM PURCHASE OF TELECOM EQUIPMENT
Quoting the former home ministry boss, sources said Arafat Rahman Koko took US $20 lakh to $30 lakh from a Chinese company in exchange for letting it win a tender bid for supplying telecommunications spare parts to Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board. Former finance minister Saifur Rahman's son Babu also received a share of the bribe.

GETTING RICH FROM PURCHASE OF FIREARMS
Babar also admitted to being involved in corruption centring purchase of firearms for Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police during the immediate past BNP rule. In the face of interrogation Babar said Hawa Bhaban took a bribe of around Tk 2 crore at the rate of US $100 per firearm. He also told the interrogators that a former home secretary stayed in a five star hotel in Pakistan during a tour there for buying sub-machineguns for Rab. He also said such activities were being carried out ignoring government rules and regulations.

EMBEZZLING FROM PURCHASE OF WIRELESS EQUIPMENT
Babar admitted that during the last five years wireless equipment worth Tk 30 crore were bought for police and Tk 10 crore of that went into the pockets of the corruptionists. A purchase made in 2003-'04 fiscal included 500 FM wireless sets and 1,000 batteries. In a similar fashion Tk 2.5 crore was misappropriated in a purchase of 150 wireless base station sets. There was also corruption in purchases of wireless repeaters for Khulna police.

FLEECING MACHINE READABLE PASSPORT PROJECT
International tenders were invited for making machine readable passports. A German company won the tender bid through a secret transaction between the company and Arafat Rahman Koko. However, former finance minister M Saifur Rahman took a stand against the deal creating legal complexities. Later the matter was resolved by the mediation of Saifur Rahman's son Naser Rahman, who is currently in detention for alleged corruption. Babar however told the interrogators that at the beginning Saifur Rahman was also in support of the deal.

LAND GRAB IN SAVAR
Babar also informed the interrogators that he leased 10 acres of land in Savar illegally. He said he let a Thai company get the lease for orchid farming, a 50 percent share of which he holds.

HELICOPTERING AT GOVT'S EXPENSE
During interrogation Babar said he went to Netrakona 20 times on personal visits on government helicopters while he was at the helm of the home ministry. The trips caused the government to lose Tk 8 lakh. He went to the same district 30 to 35 more times by other means and billed the government for the expenses, he said adding that he should not have claimed his personal trips as government ones.