Haque Specialized Group's News

Sadharan Bima Corporation (SBC) may face legal action, including account forfeiture, by government's revenue authority over unpaid corporate tax worth Tk 2.0 billion, officials said. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) might be compelled to attach bank accounts of the state-owned insurance entity for collecting the arrears in income tax that have accumulated since 1990. The Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) under the income-tax wing of the revenue board served final notice to the SBC recently having failed to get satisfactory response from the corporation despite several reminders. Officials said as per the final notice the last date for payment of the unpaid tax expired on March 13, 2017. In the letter, the LTU warned action under section 143 of the income tax ordinance 1984. As per the income-tax law, the tax authority can collect its due tax through attachment of bank accounts of a tax defaulter. In that process, they collect the arrears direct from bank accounts of such taxpayers. The LTU audit wing has counted the arrears in income tax worth Tk 2.08 billion after assessment of tax files of Sadharan Bima Corporation from tax year 1990-91 to 2013-14. The LTU had served notice to the corporation but the income-tax consultant of the corporation applied for some two months time, until May 02, 2017, for payment of the arrears. However, the LTU declined to allow an additional two months "for the sake of revenue collection". Officials said state-owned entities should be tax-compliant to encourage private sector to pay taxes. Talking to the FE Wednesday, a senior official of the SBC said the corporation is a tax-complaint entity by regularly paying tax and VAT. "The amount of arrears in tax has been identified after assessment of tax file of the SBC. We are also examining the tax liability and responding to the tax authority's notices accordingly," he said. Tax officials said arrear amount of revenue is one of the big headaches of the NBR. Around Tk 300 billion worth of tax revenue remained stuck-up with court cases. Of the revenues, state-owned entities owe a significant part as income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT). They said government organizations can resolve the dispute through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as out-of-the-court settlement can also expedite revenue collection through mutual understanding. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Two suspected militants were killed when they set off 'suicide explosions" after police attacked their hideout in Chittagong's Sitakunda on Thursday morning. Police said the militants who died belonged to the JMB. The explosions were reported after police mounted the assault on the hideout after throwing an encirclement around the hideout last night. Police started firing at the hideout around 6:00am and the inmates of the hideout replied with powerful explosions in quick succession. Seven-eight minutes of continuous police firing prompted the inmates to retaliate with as many explosions that shook up the area, according to bdnews24.com. Yousuf said an ambulance could be seen moving out of the compound after police firing and the explosions. It was not clear whether the ambulance was carrying anyone. Personnel from Counter-terrorism unit and SWAT have joined the RAB and the Chittagong police in the operations against "Chaya Nir", a two-storey building in Chowdhurypara of Siktakunda town's Premtala area. Counter-terrorism unit's additional joint commissioner Sanowar Hossain is leading the operations. He has been involved with many such raids on militant hideouts in and around Dhaka in the past. Hossain said personnel from counter-terrorism unit and Swat, police's bomb disposal squad,"LIC" unit of police headquarters and men from Chittagong police were involved in the operations. Police encircled 'Chaya Nir' after arresting a couple with arms and explosives from a 'JMB hideout' in Sitakunda town on Wednesday evening. When inmates of 'Chaya Nir" lobbed grenades injuring a policeman, the law enforcers encircled the house to ensure no one could escape from there. Intermittent exchange of fire between the police-RAB contingent and the inmates of the house were reported on several occasions throughout the night. Police said some families were stuck in 'Chaya Nir" along with the terrorists but they were still not clear about numbers. Earlier, a couple was arrested from a suspected militant hideout at Chittagong's Sitakunda after which police and SWAT personnel cordoned off 'Chaya Nir" . Local police raided the ground floor of a two-storey house, 'Sadhan Kutir', at Amirabad of Namar Bazar Ward around 3pm on Wednesday after receiving a tip-off from the building's owner. A couple, 'Jashim' and 'Arjina', were arrested from there with weapons, police said.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

A fake national ID card submitted by a terror suspect to his landlord led to the discovery of two ‘militant hideouts’ at Chittagong’s Sitakunda. ‘Jashim’, who was arrested with his wife ‘Arjina’ from a house at Namar Bazar on Wednesday, claimed to be a cloth trader when he rented the lower-storey flat on Feb 27. “The two are members of the JMB (Jama’atul Islam Mujahideen). We found suicide vests, pistols and a lot of raw ingredients for making bombs in the flat,” said Mohang Shafikul Islam, police deputy inspector general at Chittagong range. Subhash Chandra Das owns ‘Sadhan Kutir’, the building they lived in. It has six flats, three on every floor, he said. Suspect Jashim had called him, identifying himself as a cloth trader, to rent the flat for a monthly rent of Tk 6,500. Das said he asked for a copy of his new tenant’s national ID and received it on Mar 2. “That day he requested me to allow two of his so-called brothers to move into the house before his family arrives on Mar 12. I refused and said they should move in with the rest of their family.” The copy of the national ID he got said Jashim was a resident of Ramu, Cox’s Bazar. Their belongings would arrive from there, the suspect had told Das. But the driver of the rickshaw van that brought their belongings to ‘Sadhan Kutir’ told Das they were moving them from a house at Premtala, the neighbouring ward in the municipal town. “I began suspecting them. I told my wife to keep an eye on them.” On Mar 12, Jashim moved in with a family. They would keep the doors and windows shut most of the time, said Das’s wife Chhabi Rani Das. They would also have visitors at night, she added. “I saw two men in their bedroom when I went in on Sunday. They said they were Jashim’s brother,” said Das. “I removed a cloth that was covering something. There were many power circuits and a round metal object under that cover,” he said. Jashim then claimed he used them for business because, besides cloths, he also sold lights. “I took a sample from him and showed it to a mechanic. He said those were time cards that are used in refrigerators and for remote access,” said the landlord. On Wednesday, he took Jashim’s NID copy to get it checked at a computer store in town. “The computer shop owner checked the card’s information online. He said the ID number belonged to another person. Not anyone called Jashim.” Das then took two friends and his wife to the flat and asked them to leave immediately. “They kept refusing to go. There was a suitcase under a cot in one of the rooms. I pulled it out and found a pair of rubber boots. I saw a pistol inside them. Our neighbours came running when I began to scream.” Police arrived, hearing of the scuffle that began inside the flat, he said. “Seeing them, Arjina had put her hand on her waist. It was later found that she was wearing a special kind of belt. Police removed it from her.” “The woman was wearing a suicide belt. We took it from her,” said Sitakunda police inspector Mahbub Milky. The couple has a three-month-old child who was now in police custody, he said. The two men who Jashim said were his brother were not in the house at the time of the raid, police said. The information divulged by the couple has led to another raid on a house called Chhayaneer at Premtala.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Canadian police say two US tourists are missing, feared dead, after an avalanche in Banff National Park in the province of Alberta, reports BBC. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wednesday said the pair from Boston didn't check out of their hotel on Tuesday and their car was found near Lake Louise. A rescue team found snowshoe tracks leading to avalanche debris. The risk of another avalanche was so severe that police could not send a search team any further. Parks Canada, which is leading the search operation, said a helicopter flying over the area had picked up signals from two radio distress transmitters. They say they will continue the search when weather conditions improve. "The area is closed and we would like to remind people that entering a closed area is not permitted," Parks Canada said in a statement. Police have notified the families of those missing but have not named them.  ....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04

Two Russian spies are among four individuals indicted by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday over a huge theft of Yahoo user accounts. The members of the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency, conspired with criminal hackers, according to DOJ officials announcing the charges. Previously, Yahoo said "state-sponsored" hackers were behind the 2014 breach affecting 500 million accounts. The suspects are also alleged to have targeted Google accounts. Hacking was directed at Russian and US government officials, including security, diplomatic, and military personnel, according to the DOJ. The indictment also alleged that 30 million Yahoo accounts were commandeered without authorisation for use in a spam campaign. FBI 'most wanted' "We will not allow individuals, groups, nation states, or a combination of them to compromise the privacy of our citizens, the economic interests of our companies, or the security of our country," said acting attorney general Mary McCord, announcing the charges. The suspects were named in a DOJ press release as: •    Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev, 33, a Russian national and FSB officer •    Igor Anatolyevich Sushchin, 43, a Russian national and FSB officer •    Alexsey Alexseyevich Belan, 29, a Russian national and resident •    Karim Baratov, 22, a Canadian and Kazakh national and a resident of Canada Baratov was arrested on 14 March in Canada. One of the alleged hackers has been one of the FBI's most wanted cyber criminals for more than three years, according to acting Att Gen McCord. The suspect in question, Alexsey Belan, was aided by the FSB who - according to the DOJ - provided him with "sensitive FSB law enforcement and intelligence information that would have helped him avoid detection by US and other law enforcement agencies outside Russia". "We would hope [Russia] would respect our criminal justice system and respect these charges," said acting Att Gen McCord, acknowledging the fact that the US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia. "The United Kingdom's MI5 made substantial contributions to the advancement of this investigation," added FBI executive assistant director Paul Abbate. Personal data stolen Yahoo was criticised for the delay in informing users about the 2014 breach. The stolen data included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and encrypted passwords, but not credit card data, according to Yahoo. Last year, users were advised to change their passwords. Around eight million UK accounts were believed to have been affected - including some users of BT and Sky email services. "The indictment unequivocally shows the attacks on Yahoo were state-sponsored," Yahoo said in a statement, responding to the DOJ announcement. "We are deeply grateful to the FBI for investigating these crimes and the DOJ for bringing charges against those responsible." The DOJ said that the charges have no connection to the hack on the Democratic National Convention last year.....

Published at: 2017-03-16 00:00:04