Govt to launch further probe

The government has decided to run further investigations into alleged irregularities in procuring subpar crests awarded to the nation's foreign friends and organisations for their contributions to the country's Liberation War of 1971.
Hedayetullah Al Mamun, senior secretary at the commerce ministry, will lead the three-member probe committee, which has been asked to submit its report “as early as possible”, Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, senior secretary at the public administration ministry, told The Daily Star last night.
Mosharraf Hossain and Foyez Ahmed, joint secretaries of the agriculture and forest and environment ministries, are the other members of the committee, he said, adding that a circular in this regard had been issued yesterday.
The public administration ministry took the decision after a synopsis approved by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina regarding this reached the ministry yesterday, he added. The liberation war affairs ministry earlier made a request to this end too.
After assuming office in 2009, the Awami League-led government initiated a move to express state gratitude to foreign friends and organisations for their contributions to the cause of Bangladesh's struggle for freedom in 1971 and it started with honouring the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The government honoured 337 more people and organisations in seven phases.
According to the policy, each shield was to contain 22.5 grams of gold and 339 grams of silver. But Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) tested a shield in 2012 and found that the shield only had 2.363 grams of gold and 466.237 grams of brass instead of silver.
After this anomaly was published in media recently, the liberation war affairs ministry formed a probe committee on April 7 to identify those involved in the scam.
The committee led by Dhaka Divisional Commissioner Zillar Rahman found that the government was robbed of around Tk 7.04 crore through these sub-par shields. The probe body held former state minister for liberation war affairs AB Tajul Islam and 12 others of his ministry responsible for the fraudulence.
But, according to sources, the decision of forming the probe body led by Zillar Rahman, who was of additional secretary stature, drew criticisms as those who were allegedly involved in the scam include people of higher ranks.
The government top notches also had reacted to the decision and now have decided to conduct further probe into the matter, sources said.