A Dhaka court rejected bail petitions of three extortion cases against BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman yesterday.

Meanwhile, a court set June 21 for the delivery of verdict of a graft case against former state minister for employment and labour Aman Ullah Aman and his wife Sabera Aman.

Another court set June 19 for hearing on charge framing against former telecommunications minister Mohammad Nasim in connection with a graft case.

FALU ON REMAND
The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday produced Mossaddak Ali Falu before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Jagannath Das Khokon at 2:00pm on completion of his three-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 that were seized from the office of a ward commissioner of Falu's constituency as well as whereabouts of his accomplices involved in misappropriating relief materials.

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

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 remand for further interrogation.

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

During interrogation, Falu claimed that he purchased the sheets from Ruhul Amin Bhuiyan alias Jahangir, commissioner of ward 37 and the vice-president of Tejgaon BNP.

Acting on his information, security personnel had raided the ward commissioner's office at Begunbari of Tejgaon and found 63 blankets in gunnysacks and 605 CI sheets stacked up inside. Fifteen kilogramme of rotten rice was 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 from Rab-2 filed a case with Tejgaon Police Station against Falu, Jahangir and four others.

TARIQUE DENIED BAIL
Another Dhaka court yesterday rejected bail petitions of Tarique Rahman in connection with three extortion cases filed against him with Gulshan and Dhanmondi police stations on different dates.

Judge Mohammad Azizul Haq of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court passed the order after Tarique's lawyers filed criminal appeals against the rejection orders of the lower courts on different dates.

In his orders, the judge said the charges brought against Tarique were primarily proved and the cases were earlier brought under the Emergency Power Rules where there is bar to grant bail. So, the bails are rejected, the court added.

Of the cases, two were filed with Gulshan Police Station on March 27 while another case was filed with Dhanmondi Police Station on April 1.

GANI ON REMAND
A Dhaka court yesterday placed detained forest boss Osman Gani on a fresh three-day remand in a criminal case filed against him under Passport Act with Uttara Police Station.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jagannath Das Khokon passed the order after the IO of the case produced him before the court on completion of his three-day remand under the Emergency Power Rules.

He was earlier taken on a nine-day remand in connection with the case.

The joint forces on May 29 recovered about 289 tolas of gold ornaments from a bank locker of Chief Conservator of Forests Osman Gani and Tk 6.95 lakh more in cash, savings certificates worth over Tk 5 lakh and ownership documents of flats and plots at his Uttara residence.

The joint forces also raided and sealed two sawmills on Maneswar Road in Dhanmondi last night after Gani confessed to having timber worth over Tk 1 crore in those mills.

Sources in the joint forces said Gani also confessed to having 18-19 accounts with different private banks in the capital in his and his wife's names. The law enforcers raided Gani's Uttara residence and recovered bank deposit books that show over Tk 60 lakh to have been deposited in banks. The sources said the amount may exceed Tk 1 crore.

Later, two separate cases against Gani, under the Emergency Power Rules and the Passport Act, were lodged after recovery of Tk 1 crore hidden inside a pillow and a rice barrel in his house.

CASE AGAINST AMAN AND WIFE
Judge Mohammad Firoz Alam of First Special Court--set up at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar MP Hostel--yesterday fixed June 21 for delivery of the verdict of a graft case filed against Aman and his wife.

After completion of arguments from the prosecution and the defence, the judge set the date for judgement of the case.

Under a tight security, police produced Aman and Sabera before the court during the hearing of the case.

Earlier, ACC deputy directors (DDs) Abdullah Al Zahid and Jibon Krishna Roy, IOs of the case, submitted the charge sheet of the case filed with Kafrul Police Station.

In the charge sheet, the IOs said Aman and his wife amassed properties valued over Tk 10 crore illegally.

They said there are discrepancies between income and expenditure of the former BNP state minister and he accumulated huge wealth through abuse of power.

The DDs accused Sabera of giving false information in her statement to the anti-graft body.

CASE AGAINST NASIM
Another special court yesterday fixed June 19 for hearing on charge framing against Nasim in connection with WorldTel graft case.

Judge Shahed Noor Uddin of the Third Special Court adjourned the hearing, as Nasim had no lawyer to defend him. Nasim yesterday told the court that he appointed AFM Abdul Wadud as his counsel.

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 (HC) 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", the first information report (FIR) read.

"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," the FIR read.

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

CASE AGAINST MAMUN
Four more prosecution witnesses (PWs) of an arms case filed against controversial businessman Giasuddin Al Mamun yesterday gave statements.

Earlier, fifteen other PWs had given their statements before the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court.

Judge Mohammad Abul Bashar recorded statements of the witnesses and fixed June 20 for the next hearing of the case.

On April 26, Cantonment police submitted the charge sheet against Mamun to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka showing 12 people as prosecution witnesses.

Shahrum Khan, officer-in-charge of Cantonment Police Station and the IO of the case, pressed charges against Mamun, who was arrested at his Banani DOHS residence on March 26.

Police seized a .22 Spanish pistol and eight bullets from his house.

Later, an arms case was filed against Mamun and he was placed on a four-day remand.