 A parliamentary committee will soon initiate inquiry into gross irregularities and violation of rules by the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in awarding lucrative licences to new companies on personal consideration, particularly during the tenure of the military-backed caretaker government of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed.
Preliminary inquiry has revealed some startling cases of awarding licences in the telecommunication sector by formulating a palpably wrong policy titled " international long distance telecommunication services" ( ILDTS). It awarded one such licence of Nationwide Telecommunication Network (NTTN) to a novice company named Fibre@ Home Limited.
This company is officially owned by one Moinul Haque Chowdhury but Hasan Munafir Chowdhury (Meem) and Hasan Munakib Chowdhury, two sons of former chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, are in its top management position. "Meem is the general manager and his brother Munakib is the marketing manager of this company.
It is learnt that within five weeks of submitting application, the company was issued the licence without ascertaining its background and experience according to sources.
It remains a mystery why the former chairman of BTRC, Major General (retd) Manzurul Alam issued the licence, post haste, to a relatively obscure company. Circles close to the Commission smell a rat in the whole transaction and maintain that there was no way this company could claim eligibility for the licence but for Lt General (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury's sons and back-door influence. They allege that the former BTRC chairman yielded to pressure. If this be the case, the proposed inquiry will have far reaching consequences. These circles believe that a thorough inquiry will bring out the skeleton in the closet tarnishing the image of the ACC, which Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury touted as crusader against corruption.
According to the existing ILDTS policy, the Fibre @ Home Limited can lay fibre anywhere in the country and the government will not have any say in the matter.
Brig Gen Zia Ahmed, PSC (retd), chairman of BTRC, told The Independent that many activities of BTRC were done violating government's rules during the period of caretaker government and all these would come out through inquiry.
"Necessary documents relating to NTTN licence will be placed before the parliamentary inquiry committee, if the committee so desires," he said.
"Some questions were raised about recovery of penalty from the private phone operators during the period and relevant documents will also be placed before the inquiry committee," he added.
The BTRC chairman said that the Commission would do everything according to government rules for ensuring its transparency.
"We are planning to amend the ILDTS policy to make it more effective and transparent," the BTRC chairman informed.
The chairman also mentioned that the telecommunication sector is hostage to some powerful businessmen of the country due to issuance of licenses of International Gateway (IGW), Internal Connect Exchange (ICX) and International Internet Gateway (IIG), on political consideration.
Hasanul Haque Inu MP, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on posts and telecommunication ministry, told this correspondent that the parliamentary inquiry committee would look into all irregularities and mismanagement in the telecommunication sector, especially the BTRC for the last seven years, for containing corruption.
When contacted, an official of Fibre @ Home Limited , told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that Moinul Haque Siddique is the owner of the company but Hasan Munafir Chowdhury (Meem) and Hasan Munakib Chowdhury are its policy makers. ; |