Arrest warrant issued against TI's Bangladesh chapter chief

Anisur Rahman
Dhaka, Dec 26 (PTI) A Bangladeshi court on Sunday
issued an arrest warrant against the country chief of
Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) for "maligning"
the nation's judiciary by calling it a corruption-prone
institution.
The Senior Judicial Magistrate's court in central
Comilla district issued the warrant against Transparency
International Bangladesh (TIB) Chairman M Hafizuddin Khan,
Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman and fellow Wahid Alam on a
petition filed by a local lawyer.
Advocate Mohammad Tawhidur Rahman, a member of the
pro-opposition Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Samity, in his complaint
said TIB tarnished the "image, honour and reputation of the
judiciary" as well as his own career,as it named the judiciary
as the "most corrupt service sector" in its survey report
published last week.
"Magistrate Gazi Saidur Rahman took the complaint into
cognizance and ordered their arrest," a court official said
over phone from Comilla.
The TIB report has said the judiciary was the most
corrupt among the service sectors in the country followed by
law enforcement agencies and the land administration as it
came up with its findings on the basis of a household survey
it conducted between June 2009 and May 2010.
The TIB report also said corruption in the country's
judiciary system had increased by 40.3 per cent over the last
three years. A survey in 2007 had found 47.7 per cent
corruption in the judiciary.
The development came a day after Law Minister Shafique
Ahmed dubbed the TIB report "confusing" and "incorrect" and
feared the people might lose confidence in the judiciary due
to such reports "prepared without proper data and
information".
He, however, acknowledged some corrupt people in the
judiciary besmirched the judiciary by soliciting money from
people by providing them with wrong advices but "it does not
reflect the scenario of the whole judiciary".
Ahmed also alleged that the TIB report tarnished the
judiciary's image and added that "it should be examined if the
TIB report was objective or not".
The pro-Awami League members of the Supreme Court Bar
Association rejected the survey report, terming it as "naked
interference" into the judiciary.
The TIB chairman or officials were not immediately
available for comments. PTI AR
RCJ