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Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan has dismissed questions about Mashrafe Bin Mortaza’s future in the team as irrelevant, saying the ODI skipper can play for as long as he wants. At a press conference after Bangladesh lost to India in the semifinals of the Champions Trophy, Mashrafe said he was still enjoying playing cricket and would like to keep playing for now. The board chief later spoke on the matter, saying, preparing new leadership in the team is a continuous process. His comment had triggered controversies. Last Thursday, Hassan sat with Mashrafe to speak about the issue. A source in the board said there Hassan gave Mashrafe the green light to his future in the team and also asked him to prepare the team for the 2019 World Cup. The board president cleared the air surrounding the matter by making the content of that private conversation public at a press briefing on Thursday. “What I said that day is clear. You guys don’t show the whole thing (on TV), you just show parts – it confuses the people,” Hassan said. “Given the example of India’s MS Dhoni, I was told that Dhoni would not be playing in the 2019 World Cup, so India brought in a new captain. I was asked whether Bangladesh had similar plans. “I said the idea we have is regarding T20s and we did it with the next World T20 in mind. But that has nothing to do with ODIs. “There was no discussion about Mashrafe leaving or continuing captaincy. But the publicity is such that it appears Mashrafe is being dropped right now and we are in search of a new captain. But there was no such conversation, no reason to have one.” Hassan also focussed on how Mashrafe has been leading the Tigers by example. He said thinking about the future is only a procedure that needs to be followed. The board has left the decision of the future with none other than Mashrafe himself. “What will happen when Shakib (Al Hasan) is gone, when Mushfiqur (Rahim) is no longer there –- these thoughts will always be there. But acting like we are dropping Mashrafe today makes things uncomfortable for both him and us. “I am making one thing clear today, as long he (Mashrafe) can play, the question of dropping him is irrelevant. Because he is not only a player, also the captain. It is very difficult to find a skipper like him,” according to bdnews24.com.  ....

Published at: 2017-07-12 00:00:05

Senior lawyer Shahdeen Malik has said lawmakers might have violated the law by criticising in the legislature the Supreme Court verdict on the 16th amendment to the Constitution. He was addressing a roundtable discussion on Tuesday where civil society leaders and legal experts called for ensuring independence and dignity of the judiciary for the sake of the country's socio-economic development.  The speakers also pleaded for raising budgetary allocation, appointing capable judges along with transparency in their recruitment and taking necessary steps to restore people's confidence on the judiciary. The roundtable discussion on 'Independence of the judiciary and things to do' was organised by Shushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), a citizens' platform that advocates good governance, at the National Press Club. Besides, Shujan's president M Hafizuddin Khan, its secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar, columnist Syed Abul Maksud, Justice Kazi Ebadul Haque, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA) Syeda Rizwana Hasan and  professor of law at Dhaka University Asif Nazrul attended the function, among others. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shahdeen Malik said the country cannot increase its socio-economic development without ensuring independence of its judiciary system. "You cannot refer to any developed country in the world whose judiciary is subjugated to any other entities," he said. Referring to recent discussion in the parliament regarding the Supreme Court's verdict against the 16th amendment the Constitution, he said the lawmakers might have violated law by criticising the Supreme Court in the legislature. He urged lawmakers to review and analyse their heated discussions at the parliament on Sunday by watching the video footage with the help of YouTube. He identified poor budget allocation as a key challenge to the desired functioning of the judiciary. "The less strong the judicial service is, the more will be incidence of violence and anarchy in the country. Such a scenario would hamper economic growth," he said. The government has reduced allocation for the country's judiciary by Tk 1 billion to Tk 14.23 billion in the ongoing fiscal year (FY) 2017-18 from the previous FY, he noted. The budget for the Supreme Court has been cut by Tk 20 million to Tk 1.67 billion for the same period. Mr Shahdeen Malik also underscored the need for framing policy to ensure transparency in selection of judges, prosecutors and attorneys. Mr Ebadul Haque said the strength of human resources in the country's judiciary now is very low compared to the country's population. "There are 0.3 million cases pending in the Supreme Court," he said. Syed Abul Maksud said the status of judiciary is a reflection of the respective countries' politico-economic conditions. Underscoring the need for judiciary's independence for ensuring the people's right to justice, the columnist said, "The dignity of the judicial system needs to be upheld, besides keeping it free from external forces." The other speakers said many people in the country believe their freedom is being curbed in many ways. The government must pay attention to this common fear. saif.febd@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-12 00:00:05

The overall flood situation in Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Sirajganj, Gaibandha and Jamalpur districts has worsened further following the gushing water from the upstream and incessant rains, report agencies  More than 0.38 million people are affected by the flood in the districts. The flood situation in Sylhet, however, remained static though the Kushiara and Surma rivers were flowing 63 and 62 cm above their danger levels at Amalshid and Sheula points respectively on Tuesday. According to reports, the water levels of all the rivers, including Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharala, Jamuna and Dudhkumar, in the five northern districts continued to rise due to the onrush of water and heavy rains. The flood affected some 0.15 million people in five upazilas of Kurigram while 0.1 million in Sirajganj, 50,000 each in Lalmonirhat and Jamalpur districts and 10,000 in two upazilas of Nilphamari district. The gushing waters have flooded many areas of the five districts and submerged vast tracks of croplands, causing huge losses to the farmers. In Lalmonirhat, over 50,000 people of the Teesta and Dharala basins were trapped in floodwaters. At least 63 villages of Hatibandha, Kaliganj, Aditmari and Sadar upazilas remained under water for the past few days. The water of the Teesta River was flowing 18 cm above the danger level while that of the Dharala above 13 cm above the red mark. Embankments in Shiberkuti area of Kulaghat upazila and in Dhuni area of Hatibandha broke down as India has opened 54 sluice gates of its Gajaldoba barrage. To control the water, the Teesta Barrage Authorities have opened 44 gates of the barrage, according to sources at the local office of Bangladesh Water Development Board. The flood-affected people were suffering for lack of pure drinking water, sanitation, food and shelters. In Kurigram, fresh areas went under water due to the increase in water levels of all the rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla and Dudhkumar. The Brahmaputra was flowing 20 cm above the danger level at Chilmari point while the Dharala 12 cm above the danger mark at the Bridge point. Over 0.15 million people of over 200 villages in Ulipur, Chilmari, Roumari, Rajibpur and Sadar upazilas were hit hard by the flood. The scarcity of food and pure drinking water has turned acute in the flood-affected areas. Waterborne diseases were spreading fast in the flood-hit areas while no relief or medicine reached the victims yet. At least 80 educational institutions were shut down following the flood, locals said, adding that hundreds of hectares of croplands were inundated.....

Published at: 2017-07-12 00:00:05

The central bank has recently detected anomalies of serious nature in the annual financials of the First Finance Ltd, a listed non-banking financial institution (NBFI). The NBFI in question allegedly resorted to doctoring of the financial statements with a view to announcing 5.0 per cent stock dividends for the shareholders for the calendar year 2016. However, scrutiny of audited balance sheet, profit and loss accounts, statement of analysis for provision of interest expense and relevant other documents revealed a number of inconsistencies/ anomalies. In a letter issued on 14 June, BB said that it was mandatory for the NBFIs to get no objection certificate from BB before announcing dividend if the non-performing loan (NPL) was 10 per cent or higher. First Finance Ltd posted the announcement of dividend on the DSE website on April 30 this year despite having 33 per cent NPL. It also did not take 'no objection' certificate from the central bank. The BB accused the company of violating the Financial Institution Act of 1993. It also served show-cause notices on the managing director, chief financial officer (CFO) and company secretary and asked them to submit their replies within seven days. However, the BB issued no-objection certificate to the First Finance to disburse 5.0 per cent stock dividend under 'special consideration'. First Finance Ltd which was a 'z' category company in the stock market was upgraded to 'b' category following the announcement of the latest stock dividend. The company was listed on bourses in 2003. The closing price of the issue on Monday was Tk 11.50 on the DSE. In its balance sheet and profit-loss statement for the year 2016, First Finance showed the retained earnings and net profit at Tk 63.64 million and Tk 50.12 million respectively. But the retained earnings shown in the profit-loss statement submitted with the 'Analysis for Provision of Interest Expense' was in the negative.  The retained earnings in the latter case were minus Tk 24.72 million. The BB also found that First Finance has shown Tk 1.86 million as interest payable against a term deposit totalling Tk 5.52 billion. The actual amount of payable interest will be Tk 243.34 million. It is a clear violation of article 27 of the International Accounting Standards and the Bangladesh Accounting Standards, the central bank in its letter said. The central bank also said that the First Finance violated the article 10 of Financial Institution Act 1993 while announcing dividend despite having negative retained earnings. While contacted, a senior BB official told the FE that the central bank has given conditional approval to the company to give 5.0 per cent dividend. Regarding the anomalies, First Finance senior executive vice president and consultant Mr Mansur said the dividend has been approved by the board where an observer from BB was also present. 'I don't want to comment as the proposal was submitted to the board and approved by it with BB observer present there,' he said. There was no inconsistency rather there was shortfall in the provision worth Tk 63 million. "If we could give the dividend the shareholders would have been the gainers," he said, adding: there is neither any issue of hiding nor stealing. In the meanwhile, following a writ petition filed by some shareholders, a High Court Division bench has stayed the holding of the annual general meeting (AGM) by the First Finance, scheduled for June 15 last, for a period of six months.     msshova@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-12 00:00:05

The government is set to formulate policy guidelines on reducing and discouraging cash transactions as part of its efforts to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing, officials said. The central bank has been asked to prepare by next month a report on how to reduce cash transactions in the economy to reduce fund flow, they added. Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech also mentioned the issue. The national coordination committee on Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) also discussed the issue at a recent meeting and asked the central bank to submit the report on time. Cash transaction is identified as one of the major means of sending money for terrorist activities. Officials believe that reduction of cash flow among the people may help prevent terrorist financing to some extent. In this case, officials said, people will be encouraged to use plastic money like debit card and credit card in automated teller machines (ATMs) or point-of-sale (POS) machines in case of shopping.   Deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank and head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan told the FE that in developed countries, people now use banking channel increasingly instead of handling cash money. "Transaction through the banking channel generates document which helps prevent its misuse," he said. Mr Hassan, whose department is preparing the report in this regard, said terrorist financing within the country is mainly being done through cash transactions. Asked whether any measure to curb cash transactions would create difficulties for the common people when the rate of financial inclusion or access to banks in the countryside is still very poor, the deputy governor said financial literacy of the people will increase gradually and thus they would prefer using paper money.   "I think time has come to curb cash transactions gradually," he noted.   However, statistics show that the rate of use of cards for retail transactions still remains very low in the country. The people still prefer using cards mainly for withdrawing money from ATMs.   The central bank data shows that in 2016, nearly 172 million transactions amounting to Tk 1.25 trillion were done through debit and credit cards. Of the transactions, 92 per cent took place through debit cards while 6.0 per cent through credit cards. Of the total, transaction of only Tk 120.41 billion was done through POS, means for buying something or paying bills, even for withdrawing cash money. "The main purpose of cashless transaction would not be served if use of card-based transactions remains limited to ATM withdrawals," Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited, a leading private bank with big presence in the card segment, told the FE earlier.  syful-islam@outlook.com ....

Published at: 2017-07-12 00:00:05