UNB, Dhaka
Kazi Tajul Islam Farooq, who sued Sheikh Hasina during the interim period on charge of extortion, has been removed from the post of Chairman of the Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited company.
Company officials in a statement issued on Wednesday said he was “removed” on January 5 following a meeting of the company’s board of directors.
The statement mentioned that Farooq had filed a case against Sheikh Hasina, now back in the seat of Prime Minister after a gap of seven years, in defiance of company directive.
“The case was later proved to be a false case,” it said, adding that Tajul had filed the case with his personal intention and Westmont Power (Bangladesh) Limited was not involved with it.
Tajul Islam Farooq, the then chairman of the Westmont Power Company, filed the case on April 9, 2007 under non-bailable sections of the penal code accusing Hasina and her personal staff Manu Majumder of extorting Tk 3 crore in 1998 while she was prime minister in her previous term. With the reversal of the anti-graft purge launched during the rule of the caretaker regime, he withdrew on December 24, 2008 the barge-mounted power plant case against the Awami League president. He filed the extortion case with Tejgaon Police Station on April 9 last year under the non-bailable sections of the penal code. In the case, Tajul had alleged that the then prime minister had forced him to pay her Tk 3 crore when she was in power in 1998.
Tajul also brought allegations against Hasina of extortion and abuse of power in 1998 when she was the prime minister. Tajul retracted saying that due to some misunderstanding at the beginning of 2007 he had to file the case against Sheikh Hasina, also daughter of father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. “It was undesirable and unexpected on my part.” Tajul submitted an application to the officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station requesting him to take necessary measures to withdraw the case. The case is now under investigation.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
